We launched a campaign for a film classification (“C”) to call out lack of consent, by exposing non-consensual acts in famous film scenes and posting the videos on TikTok. With zero media spend, our TikTok posts went viral with over 6 million views, sparking hundreds of more film submissions. The more unexpected the scene, from a cartoon to a romance, the greater the engagement.

We educated young people about consent through what they loved watching, using pop culture to drive a cultural shift.

Most Australians weren’t educated about sexual consent*. While progressive new laws had swept the nation, our everyday understanding of consent had not progressed. Government educational ads had been widely criticized. Not-for-profit group Consent Labs had tried to bridge the gap through workshops, but we needed a mass approach in order to make a cultural impact.

We realised that Australians collectively watch over 780,000,000 hours of films a year - and academics have shown the capacity of films to influence real-world behaviour by depicting non-consensual acts as trivial, acceptable and even desirable.**

We wanted to empower Australians to recognise non-consensual acts on a mass scale in all facets of their lives. We needed a public awareness campaign unlike any other.

* 65% of Australians weren’t educated about consent and can’t define it (Consent Labs – Pureprofile; July 2022)

** Prof. Julia Lippman, University of Michigan; Prof. Sujata Moorti, Middlebury College

We launched #ClassifyConsent, a campaign for the first-ever film classification (“C”) to call out lack of consent.

We realised that films constantly depicted sexual coercion and assault, but they were easy to miss in comedic or romantic contexts. As a result, 3 out of 5 viewers were unable to recognise these acts.*

Just like with a “violence” classification, the simple “C” informs viewers of “lack of consent” in content before they watch. But it’s also the first classification that turns entertainment into education each time it’s used. Every usage becomes a health and wellbeing opportunity: not just to inform the viewer, but to empower them to recognise consent both on screen and off. The more unexpected its use, from a cartoon to a romance, the greater the educational impac,: giving viewers a new lens on consent.

57% of Australians can’t recognise non-consensual acts in films (Consent Labs – Pureprofile; July 2022)

Previous attempts to impact our culture around sexual consent failed by using a government-led top-down approach, targeted at youth. Consent Labs’ primary audience is young people (aged 12–24). So our strategy was to meet them where they lived: on social media. We launched our campaign on TikTok, exposing the non-consent in famous scenes as examples that would attract our classification.

Overlayed supers unpacked why these scenes lacked consent, and each post was watched millions of times, becoming its own educational asset and sparking debate with material that people were already watching.

The classification meant that Australians watched their favourite content through fresh eyes, seeing what they had previously missed.

With social media abuzz, we pitched the story to mainstream media where journalists independently unearthed their own examples from films – showing the effectiveness of consuming entertainment through an educational lens, rather than trying to make education entertaining.

We launched our campaign for a new classification by first exposing the prevalence of lack of consent in famous scenes. Using supers overlayed on the scenes to break down how they lacked consent, we posted these clips on TikTok where they went viral and ignited lively engagement with every post.

Each post drove users to our #ClassifyConsent website where thousands pledged their support for a new classification and downloaded consent toolkits.

Every touchpoint of the campaign became an educational asset that hijacked the world’s most famous media to become a teachable moment on consent. Our classification gave Australians a new lens through which to consume entertainment, with hundreds even sharing their own film examples.

The conversation spilled to global mainstream media, sparking a movement that led to our partnership with the Australian Government to implement the first-ever “lack of consent” classification, to be used to classify films nationwide in 2023.

With zero spend we reached over 6 million TikTok views simply by hijacking famous scenes. Consent Labs, our not-for-profit partner, saw their TikTok following grow over 2000%. Campaign coverage exploded in global mainstream media with an estimated reach of over 200 million. We used pop culture to drive a cultural movement.

Hundreds volunteered their own film examples of scenes through comments and website submissions. Even journalists found new examples* and 71% of Australians supported our classification becoming law**.

Netflix endorsed our classification, and we entered an official partnership with the Australian Classification Board. We have since authored the new government guidelines for the first-ever “lack of consent” classification, to be implemented Australia-wide in 2023 - so millions will now learn about consent, just by pressing play.

* “Ad of the Week”, Campaign Asia, Sydney Morning Herald, Harper’s Bazaar

** National Pureprofile research, July 2022

Consent Labs is Australia’s leading not-for-profit group on consent, having taught over 60,000 Australians about affirmative consent through peer-reviewed workshops. They work to change our culture around sexual consent from a grassroots level.

Despite new consent laws passing nationwide, two-thirds of Australians still can’t define sexual consent.* Government ads were widely mocked and pulled from air. We needed a fresh approach in order to make a cultural impact.

We realized that films, our most popular entertainment, constantly depicted sexual coercion and assault, but these acts were hidden in comedic or romantic contexts. Troublingly, 3 out of 5 viewers were unable to recognise these acts.*

We wanted to empower Australians to recognise non-consensual acts on a mass scale - but without a traditional, top-down approach.

65% of Australians can’t define consent (Consent Labs – Pureprofile; July 2022)

57% of Australians can’t recognise non-consensual acts in films (Consent Labs – Pureprofile; July 2022)