Therefore, as a response to analysing the Charley - Strangers video I have set my own brief for the leaflet that I can use to develop ideas forward.
Brief - To create an information leaflet that shocks/warns parents about the dangers of children talking to strangers. Statistics and figures should be clearly, visually used to enforce the message that parents must keep an eye on their children and to that their children must know how to react to strangers.
Research - Before researching into the content for the leaflet a single-episode documentary on Channel 4 was of particular interest. Anti-paedophile campaigner, Stinson Hunter, hosted a documentary named The Paedophile Hunter, which won a BAFTA in 2015. The episode followed Stinson Hunter and his associates, who pose as children on social networking sites to draw out men who they assert to have paedophilic predilections.
The episode was shocking and incredibly eye-opening - it emphasised how dangerous the Internet can really be and the threats it poses for young children. Men over the age of 40/50 were shown grooming and attempting to meet children as young as 11 years old. A lot of the messages they received were very graphic and extremely inappropriate for children. The evidence provided to the police by Stinson and his associates have led to a total of 10 men being convicted for paedophilic acts so far - all of which started on online social networks.
After watching the video I decided that it was crucial that to base the leaflet around, not only stranger danger, but the new threats of online social media. Charley - Strangers was produced in 1973 - before the first PC was even created. In this sense, it is outdated and was important to include the new dangers to children, such as online strangers and predators, in the leaflet. Therefore, before generating layout ideas for the leaflet a small list of the key pieces of information that would need to be covered in the leaflet was made. The four main points that were to be covered include:
• What is child abduction? What are the dangers of the internet?
• Up-to-date stats & figures on child abduction and digital dangers.
• How can these be prevented?
• Hotlines/contact numbers.
The content inside the leaflet will be taken from a variety of researched sources. Only reliable sources of information will be used and stats/figures will relevant for distribution to the UK only. The information found has been divided into the relevant sub-headings below. This information will be condensed down when typesetting the leaflet and designing the pages.
What is child abduction?
Child Abduction is the offense of wrongfully removing or wrongfully retaining, detaining or concealing a child or baby. Abduction is defined as taking away a person by persuasion, by fraud, or by open force or violence. There are two types of child abduction: parental child abduction and abduction by a stranger. Parental child abductions are the most common type.
Source: http://www.hg.org/child-abduction.html
What are the dangers of the internet?
Child groomers do exist and are a very real threat. They target both boys and girls of all ages and use the anonymity of the Internet to their advantage since they can be whomever they want. Many are master manipulators with skills that can cripple any child's sense of awareness. This is known as the grooming process and predators look for children that are more technically savvy than their parents. They look for children that are emotionally vulnerable which can be related to personal issues derived from problems at school or home. They use these issues to befriend the victim and empathize with them while building a pseudo friendship and trust. If a child indicates frustration with parents or teachers at school the predator might suggest the child's parents are way too strict or their teacher is being unfair and this plays right into the adolescent mind as they look for people to verify their feelings.
• Chat Rooms (based on interest)
• Looking for child oriented screen names
• Searching through SN profiles
• Striking up a conversation
• Showing interest and gain their trust
• Building up friendships
Source: http://www.familysafecomputers.org/predators.html
A study by Geoff Newis named Beyond 'stranger danger' finds that:
Children increasingly struggle to distinguish between a stranger and a non-stranger, especially in an age of social media. Children who have had no abduction safety training will readily go with strangers when presented with a lure. The crucial distinction is not between strangers and non-strangers, but between well-meaning adults and those with criminally abusive intent, whether strangers or not.
Source: http://www.childabduction.org.uk/images/Beyond_Stranger_Danger.pdf
Most parents who fall victim to family abduction are not aware that something like this can happen to them. While most people think strangers are to blame in child kidnappings, national statistics reveal that abductions by family are much more common than by strangers.
Source: http://www.stopfamilyabductionsnow.org/parents.html
Statistics & Figures:
A report published by the charity PACT (Parents and Abducted Children Together) highlights that there were almost 900 abductions and kidnappings across England, Wales and Northern Ireland in the year 2013/2014. This is a year-on-year increase of 13% in child abduction and kidnapping offences compared to the previous year's number of 781. Child kidnappings increased at a rate of 18% over the two year period and non-parental child abductions increased at 14%
There are more than 500,000 predators online everyday. Children aged 12 to 15 are susceptible to being groomed and manipulated by offenders online. 140,000 children go missing in the UK every year.
Source - http://www.actionagainstabduction.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Press-Release-child-abduction-report.pdf
------Almost 30% of parents allow their children to access the internet without any restrictions or supervision, with one in eight letting toddlers aged two or under go online.
Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/internet/10029180/Children-using-internet-from-age-of-three-study-finds.html
------
43% of children message strangers, starting from an average age of 12.
Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2552658/More-half-children-use-social-media-age-10-Facebook-popular-site-youngsters-join.html
Preventions:
• Most importantly, make sure that your child knows to never talk to people they don't know. This goes for online and outside the house.
• Ensure that your child knows their full name and your full name. Older children should be able to easily recite their full address, city, state and country, as well as telephone number with area code.
• Fully teach your child about how and when to dial 999.
• Tell them to stay away from cars or other vehicles. Children should never approach a vehicle unless they are absolutely sure they know the occupants.
• Act like a stranger and see how they react. For younger children, teach them the proper way to respond by running away, yelling "HELP" loudly and saying exactly what is happening.
• Recognize, React, and Report - Teach your child to run and tell an adult immediately if they think they see danger.
• Report any suspicious activity immediately. Asking your child direct questions, such as "Did you talk to anyone new today?", may bring suspicious acts to light.
• Monitor your child's online activity and make sure they understand the dangers of the internet.
Source: http://www.isp.state.il.us/crime/caparentsguide.cfm
Helplines/Contact Numbers:
• If your child is missing or has run away from home, you must contact the police. Dial 999 in an emergency situation or call your local police force immediately on 101.
• If you believe that your child has been or is at risk of being abducted or, if your child has been taken overseas without your consent, call the police immediately.
• If you are concerned about the safety or welfare of a child you can call the NSPCC on 0808 800 5000.
Inspiration - To gain some initial research for the leaflet I researched into some various folding techniques and graphic style approaches to information design. This research will help to inform my initial ideas for the leaflet.
The pictograms in these two examples effectively break up the typography in the pieces. Pages full of just text can become boring to read and quite difficult to follow. In this respect, I will try to divide the text in the leaflet up effectively with pictograms and use of colour.
Z folds often remind me of the low-quality, poorly designed takeaway leaflets that are posted through doors. Although, this example has a much higher quality feel due to the stock choice and foil stamped lettering. For large-scale distribution across the UK foil stamping would be far too expensive to produce. Furthermore, the challenge with this sort of fold is that designs must fit into such small page widths. Paper stock and design layout would have to be experimented with to create an effective leaflet in this form.
This accordion fold is similar to the 3-fold; however, the stock used appears thicker and slightly higher in quality. The front page logo has been debossed too, which adds to the overall quality of the leaflet. Whilst this approach visually looks more professional, it would most likely cost too much to produce and distribute across the UK.
This continuous half-fold piece is an effective way of quickly engaging users with a leaflet. The turn of each page provides new, striking facts that lead to a final, fully folded out page. For my leaflet I could use this fold concept to display the researched stats and facts concisely. I could also use the last final page as a poster type of piece, whereby useful information about child abductions and preventions could be displayed. It would be most likely that the page size in this publication would be A5, as the final folded out piece would optimally be no larger than A3 in size.
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