A shocking video exposing the brutal realities of child sexual exploitation has been launched by one of the UK’s leading children’s charities this week. The Children’s Society teamed up with communications agency VCCPme to draw attention to the horrific crime of child sexual exploitation, which the police currently recognise as the greatest threat facing this country next to terrorism, with countless childhoods being ripped away by predatory adults. The two minute film reveals the ‘growing pains’ and impact of sexual abuse on children, and follows The Children’s Society’s fully integrated direct response campaign (which launched on November 5) with a direct mail in the form of a full-size wall chart.
VCCPme and The Children's Society have launched a shocking video exposing the brutal realities of child sexual exploitation
Synonymous with tracking the significant milestones of childhood, the video features the familiar chart of childhood marked on the walls in so many homes. It starts with innocent moments such as being tall enough to ride the roller-coaster. But as the camera pans up the chart, the recorded events begin to take a more sinister and tragic turn. The harrowing clip serves to underline the fact that thousands of children and young people are being targeted for sexual exploitation in every type of community across the country. As The Children’s Society’s new report “Old Enough To Know Better?” reveals, huge numbers of sex crimes against older teenagers in England and Wales in the last year went unreported and unpunished because many victims were gripped by the fear of not being believed and suspicion of the justice system.
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The two minute video is available on The Children’s Society website, and is part of the charity’s Seriously Awkward campaign which is calling on the Government to make sure that police have the means they need to protect 16 and 17 year olds from sexual exploitation, and that consent to take drugs and drink alcohol is never confused with consent to engage in sexual acts. More than three quarters of cases of reported sexual crimes against 16 and 17 year olds result in no police action against the perpetrator and only a tiny proportion result in a successful prosecution. The idea is to put this issue at the top of the Government’s agenda. Emmy Award winning “Luther” director Sam Miller helmed the short film, compellingly revealing that child sexual exploitation can take place in the most mundane settings of an average home to a child in an average family. He said: “People think the dramas I work on feel pretty real and authentic-well this story is chillingly real. I wanted to be part of this project to show people what this horrific crime against children is really about and for them to know that they can do something to help these children.”
The video is part of the Seriously Awkward campaign, calling on the Government to make sure that police protect 16 and 17 year olds from sexual exploitation
Sophie Maunder-Allan, CEO of VCCPme, said:“Learning about the incredibly important work that the Children’s Society do has been both humbling and deeply upsetting. The work we have produced is reflective of the shocking truth of the situation for far too many vulnerable children in the UK right now, and we are proud at VCCPme to have helped in any way we can to highlight this shocking situation.” Matthew Reed, CEO of The Children’s Society, added: “VCCPme has made a powerful video helping us bring this urgent issue to the screen. This video is vital to our being able to draw attention to the what child sexual exploitation really is and raise the critical funds we need to make sure we can help these children and keep more safe from being sexually exploited in the first place.”
