NSPCC in first TV push targeting Asians

NSPCC is rolling out its first TV campaign targeting the Asian community in a bid to raise awareness of its Asian Child Protection Helpline.

The children’s welfare charity is marking the fifth anniversary of its Asian Child Protection Helpline with a month-long TV advertising campaign on ten UK Asian stations throughout November. It is also timed to coincide with Ramadan, a time when people reflect on family and charitable acts.

The executions, broadcast in Hindi and Bengali, will feature three different scenarios in which Asian people are concerned about the welfare of a child, but unsure of what action to take. There is an Asian mother who is worried her daughter’s friend is being abused, an Asian father who is feeling guilty about hitting his son and an elderly Asian man worried that his neighbours are neglecting their children.

NSPCC marketing communications manager Tessa Herbert says: “Asian children are no more at risk of abuse than other children. However, some members of the Asian community experience difficulties seeking professional child protection support outside the community.

“Our challenge was to communicate a difficult subject in a culturally sensitive way and show people in the Asian community that they could turn to the NSPCC for information and advice.”

A spokeswoman adds the charity took into consideration the current political climate surrounding the Asian community in the UK, but decided the issue of child welfare took precedence above any concerns regarding other current sensitivities.

The NSPCC says that targeting the Asian community is part of a drive to mobilise 1.4 million people – one person for every unloved child in the UK – to join its Full Stop campaign to end cruelty to children.

The Asian Helpline has taken nearly 9,000 calls since its 2001 launch five years ago. Counsellors are from the Asian community and can take calls in Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu, as well as English.