As the world’s best female footballers gear up for the FIFA Women’s World Cup, a new government communication campaign will educate fans on the insidious ways that controlling and abusive behaviour by men can impact women off the field.

The campaign targets 15 to 24-year-olds, with videos, audio and static creative featuring both male and female perspectives on the ‘red flags’ to look out for as signs of an abusive relationship. It will be complemented by educational workshops for sports clubs as part of a larger push to raise awareness about coercive control, ahead of moves to criminalise this form of abuse in South Australia.

Kicking off on 17 July, the $200,000 ad campaign will run for eight weeks, timed to coincide with the five Adelaide-hosted FIFA Women’s World Cup matches scheduled for late July and early August.

Ads will be shown on sports-related digital channels, gaming, Broadcast Video On Demand through 7Plus, Foxtel and Kayo, radio and audio, outdoor including bike and truck billboards and street furniture and social media, including geo-targeting around Hindmarsh Stadium and FIFA Fan Festival sites. By leveraging football’s strong following across culturally diverse communities, the campaign is also designed to reach Afghan, Indian, Philippine, Thai, Vietnamese and Chinese young people in South Australia.

The new ads will build on the momentum of South Australia’s first ever campaign to raise awareness of coercive control, which was launched in March 2023 and urged the community to ‘see the signs’.

Coercive control is a pattern of insidious behaviour that can involve many different forms of abuse, including psychological, financial and technological abuse.  It happens in intimate relationships and may present as:

• isolating from friends and family
• controlling where or how someone goes out, dresses or works
• taking control over money, phone or social media
• making someone feel that they are being watched, will be punished for making their own choices, or are ‘going crazy’.

Coercive control can have a devastating and long-lasting impact and may be a precursor to other physical forms of domestic violence, include homicide.

Visit the See the Signs website for more information and to get help on coercive control.