Were you offended by this ‘We Consent’ campaign ad?

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

The Hard Shoulder, with Ciara Kelly and Shane Colman. On Newstalk, with Ciara.

Shane Coleman (0:08)

Dublin Rape Crisis Centre has taken down three online video ads related to its We Consent campaign, following criticism of one ad in particular. The ad shows grandparents going to give their teenage granddaughter a hug, but before they do, it stops and says, not everyone wants a hug. It's received significant backlash, many saying it's offensive to our older population. Joining me to discuss is Catherine Ardagh, Fianna Fáil TD and Minister of State at the Department of Justice with Special Responsibility for Youth Justice. Minister, what did you make of the video?

Catherine Ardagh (0:42)

Thanks, Seán. And I just want to first of all say, the work that the Rape Crisis Centre do is phenomenal. We are on the show now today talking about consent, and it's really important, especially when you talk about sexual consent.

So, I think we should be really grateful to them. In relation to that particular campaign, sometimes we get things right, sometimes we get things wrong, you know, it's the government's view that didn't represent our views in relation to the relationship between grandparents and grandchildren. I know myself, I have two young kids and we have three grandparents, and the relationship they have is really special, and I don't think there should be any public sort of campaign out there to, you know, disparage that relationship or send any message out to children to counter that really special relationship that people have. But I have to say, the work the Rape Crisis Centre do is phenomenal, and sexual consent and discussing sexual consent has to be a priority for us all.

Shane Coleman (1:44)

Yeah, no, definitely agreed. I suppose the question maybe comes down to how far do we take talking about consent? I think a lot of people are looking at this going, maybe this has just gone that that step too far is having a friendly hug from a grandparent.

Does that now require consent? It seems a bit mad to a lot of people.

Catherine Ardagh (2:02)

Well, I think we just need to be open about consent, and especially really when it comes to sexual consent, because that's the work that we want to do. We want to ensure that young people have these open discussions about consent and are really clear on their boundaries when it comes to sexual consent.

The idea that we use grandparents to portray this message is not something that the government believes is the correct way forward. But that's not to say campaigns don't have a huge value. There has been really important advertising campaigns in the past that have been really effective and I think we need to see more of these types of campaigns just to address really sexual consent.

Shane Coleman (2:45)

We were interested to find out where this came from and we have a statement from the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre who say that based on the feedback of over 20 consent workshops with younger and older people, part of that workshop involved sharing participants' own experiences of instances where they felt uncomfortable. The scenarios depicted in the video series came up very frequently in all the workshops and I'm sure a lot of people will remember a time in their own life when maybe they had a hug or a kiss or something from a family member that was probably meant harmlessly but they felt uncomfortable at and I guess does the question come back to is that okay? Is it fine if it's largely harmless or is this maybe a conversation we need to have that while we as adults might think, oh, it's just a hug or it's just your uncle picking you up or whatever, but actually that's making children feel really quite uncomfortable in themselves.

Catherine Ardagh (3:35)

Yeah, and I have to say like we all agree that talking about consent is really important and that comes up in various guises. But ultimately, you know, the idea is to stem the tide of sexual violence. And to do this, we know that the idea of consenting to sexual intercourse or any sort of sexual behaviors has to be discussed and informed consent is priority and it's really important part of that discussion. So we have to ensure that we have a good campaign, that like people are informed, that we're discussing it. And even the idea that we're talking about it today shows that in some way we have, you know, we've come a long way.

Like I don't think previously we wouldn't have had conversations on the airways in relation to informed consent. So I think that's something really positive that we have to look at. And I just want to reiterate the huge amount of work that the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre do when it comes to conversations around consent and putting consent in the centre of the agenda.