The Minister of Justice has called an ad surrounding consent involving grandparents ‘demeaning.’
The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre had begun a media campaign surrounding discussions on consensual hugs and embraces, including between grandparents and grandchildren.
The three online video ads feature grandparents arriving at a front door and enthusiastically hugging a young boy, while a teenage girl standing looks uncomfortable about the upcoming interaction with her grandparents.
The ad then stops, while the words ‘not everyone wants a hug. Even from the people who love them.’
The ad and two others were part of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre and CUAN’s ‘We-Consent’ campaign, although it has received international backlash by news outlets such as the Hungarian Conservative and the New York Post.
The Minister for Justice, Jim O’Callaghan, has since intervened in the airing of the ads, which have been suspended; he said in a statement that the ads do not represent the views of the Government.
‘The video produced by the DRCC involving grandparents does not represent the views of the Government,’ Minister O’Callaghan said. ‘It was both inappropriate and demeaning to grandparents and has been removed by DRCC following my officials engagement with them.
‘It goes without saying that having loving grandparents in a child’s life is an incredibly positive thing to be cherished and not something to be campaigned against.
‘While it is vital to ensure that people understand the concept of consent when it comes to sexual relationships, this video did not advance that aim and in many ways was counterproductive.’
‘We-Consent is a long-term campaign as part of Dublin Rape Crisis Centre’s prevention work to increase the awareness and practice of consent in Ireland,’ the DRCC said in a statement.
‘We created three videos premised on the idea that boundaries should be respected from an early age and to respect others’ boundaries too.
‘We are going to remove the videos from our social media channels while we reflect on whether they are having the positive effect we want them to have.’
