Flag, you're it : don't prey where we play

Abstract

Flag, You’re It (FYI) is Singapore’s first holistic campaign that aims to fight against online child grooming (OCG) – a serious cyber threat affecting adolescents aged 13 to 17. Conceptualised and executed by four final-year undergraduates from the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication, Nanyang Technological University, the campaign empowered adolescents to flag out online friendships and conversations. In doing so, the campaign mobilised community stakeholders to develop stronger preventive measures. Given the complacent attitudes and misconceptions that adolescents hold about OCG, coupled with low public saliency on the issue, FYI had to raise the target audience’s susceptibility through relatable and contextualised storytelling. Prominent activations included a six-week-long immersive exhibition to allow the public to understand the complexities of OCG, as well as a card game to ease the act of flagging out amongst adolescents. This campaign brought about a monumental push towards combating OCG – it recruited 2,701 adolescent advocates, empowered 185 victims to share about a past encounter or current situation, raised over SGD106,000 from ecosystem partners to improve protective behavioural adoption, and earned a PR value of SGD915,033. Overall, the campaign was successful in increasing the saliency of OCG, and prompted a behavioural change amongst the target audience.