These Instagram Cats Raise Awareness on Online Child Sexual Abuse

On the European Day on the Protection of Children against Sexual Abuse (November 18th), Wunderman Thompson Antwerp, a WPP agency, is proud to launch #catsforkids, a new social media campaign launched to create awareness of online child sexual abuse and stopchildporno.be, a website where people can report online images of child sexual abuse.

Through their in-depth research, Wunderman Thompson Antwerp found a very accessible way to highlight the issue of child sexual abuse: using cats on Instagram (which are abundantly shared). It is estimated that each day, 19 million images of child sexual abuse are spread online, which is 78 times the amount of cute cats. Based on these insights, the agency decided to use cats to grab people’s attention and participate in the discussion about a very serious topic. Child Focus’ new social campaign raises awareness online by sharing photos of cute cats, with the message written on a piece of paper. Child Focus calls on everyone to also share a photo of their cat including this handwritten message to help raise awareness for this problem, and encourages people to report images of child sexual abuse on stopchildporno.be. 

The media plan includes sponsored posts on Instagram & Facebook by Child Focus, posts by Instagram influencers, and flyers in pet stores to increase participation in the campaign. Several influencers and ‘catfluencers’ will also participate and share a picture of their cat on Instagram.

For several years, Wunderman Thompson Antwerp has partnered with the non-profit Child Focus to make creative and impactful campaigns to raise awareness of missing and sexually exploited children. Together they have created various campaigns that not only won national and international awards, but that – most of all – make a difference.

“Cats are massively shared on Instagram, up to 243,000 times per day. But what people don’t know is that it’s estimated that each day,19 million images of child sexual abuse are spread online. That is 78 times the amount of cute cats. This problem often remains under the radar but needs the attention of the general public in order to be fought,” said Manuel Ostyn, creative director, Wunderman Thompson Antwerp.