The Campaign

Cyberbullying Experience App.: Publicizing the phone of the victim The gravity of the issue can only be felt when victimized. Therefore, we developed an application which traps adults as victims of cyberbullying. From cursing calls to sexual harassments, actual cases and curses were collected from interviews and articles to provide real experience. The application gave adults a chance to experience actual cyberbullying. When opened, users are required to enter their names, so that the application captures users with messages sent in users’ names. Surprised adults may be tempted to tap “Back” button, but a pop-up window appears to complete the experience. The last words of the actual victim were displayed on the last screen to herald the seriousness. Furthermore, elapsed time was shown at the ending copy to appeal to the public. When finished, adults were encouraged to sign for a social safety net as a call to action.

Execution

<Mobile experience garners support from 19 organizations> A censored beta and uncensored trial version were released on Apr. 5, 2016. Prints were made to promote the application, and distributed at an experience booth held in line with Daejeon Metropolitan Police Agency on Apr. 15. Another experience session took place the next day, and we were invited by the Korea Psychological Association of Culture and Social Issues to introduce the application on the symposium titled “Youth School Violence and Suicides.” In addition, prints were distributed to parent and teachers organizations nationwide, and gained 17 positive feedbacks to open an experience session. Furthermore, Facebook advertisement (to be on-air after Apr. 20) was also created to target general adults.

Finally, cyberbullying started to poke its ugly head above the surface. Adults who experienced the application suffered temporary shocks, and pledged to invest more interest in their kids. The application went viral on social media and online communities, and soon reached out to various media outlets including the public TV KBS 7 News, The Segye Times, Yonhap News, E News Today, Geumgang Daily, Medical Today, Korean Biz and more. Thanks to the wide media coverage, cyberbullying among children became a matter of serious concern in the Korean society. In addition, we gained positive feedbacks from 17 organizations to open an experience session and expand the campaign. Furthermore, number of counseling on cyberbullying skyrocketed by 300%.

The Situation

<Actual cyberbullying among kids disclosed> Cyberbullying leaves no physical bruises, and is only found on phones. Since cyberbullying cannot be observed, adults rarely discover the truth. Even if adults do realize the situation, they merely consider as a prank. However, cyberbullying shows twice the suicidal rate than physical abuses; all committed under without any supervision by adults.We developed an application which provides actual experience of being cyberbullied alert cyberbullying to adults. Foul languages in incoming calls shocked adults instantly, and served as a call to action. As a result, cyberbullying became a social issue, and people demanded a safety net.

The Strategy

Cyberbullying experience based on actual cases Organizations publish reports on school violence every year. Still, the atrocity of cyberbullying cannot be fully conveyed with verbatim and censored contents. As violence is committed on smartphones, we strongly felt it should also be disclosed and experienced on our palms without censorship. First, actual curses and bullying methods were collected from interviews, news articles, and testimonies from the members of Korea Association of School Violence Victims Families. Then, an application was developed to play and check IMs like a real phone. Curses written in static texts are now heard in real voice, directed straight to the user. Furthermore, minimal censorship was made to outrageous curses for adults. The application gave a shocking experience similar to that of the victims. Main targets were parents and teachers, and sub-targets were 20-30s adults.