After words : a social campaign to address verbal aggression amongst couples in Singapore

Abstract

after words is a social campaign that seeks to address the issue of verbal aggression amongst couples in Singapore. Meticulously built by a team of four final year undergraduates from the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information (WKWSCI) at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), the campaign aims to highlight and tackle the unnoticed impact that words have in relationships. Targeted at married and dating couples aged 21 to 39, the after words campaign strives to raise awareness of verbal aggression, instil a desire amongst couples to reduce verbal aggression in their relationships, and further encourage healthier communication. To achieve this, the campaign’s strategy and initiatives leveraged upon the insights gathered from formative research conducted on the topic. Using approaches such as a social experiment, an expert dialogue series, a couple-conversation web series as well as a public outreach event, the team hopes to improve the knowledge, attitudes and behaviours that individuals have on verbal aggression through meaningful and educational content. This paper provides a summary of the primary and secondary research conducted and reveals the key findings used to mould the campaign’s strategy and objectives. The formulation and execution of the campaign will also be documented in detail. As a measure of effectiveness, a section on campaign evaluation is dedicated to analysing the results from our campaign surveys as well as reviewing the sentiments of our target audience. Additionally, the challenges faced throughout the course of the campaign are also represented in terms of the limitations, for which recommendations were provided. Finally, we discuss plans for future directions through the development of sustainability initiatives and extended collaborations.