- New Aboriginal family and domestic violence campaign uses cultural storytelling practices to raise awareness of coercive control
- Developed by a WA Aboriginal creative agency in consultation with Aboriginal people
- ‘Coercive Control – A Story That’s Not Ours’ campaign complements the broader ‘Coercion Hurts’ campaign currently in market
The WA Government has launched a powerful advertising campaign for Aboriginal audiences aimed at increasing awareness that coercive control is a form of family and domestic violence.
A first-of-its-kind campaign in WA, ‘Coercive Control – A Story That’s Not Ours’is grounded in cultural sensitivity, respect and empowerment, and designed to highlight examples of coercive control behaviour and how it can make a victim-survivor feel.
Developed by a WA Aboriginal creative agency, it highlights the importance of storytelling in Aboriginal culture and uses the voice of a female Aboriginal Elder speaking to her community about coercive control.
The campaign features narratives, imagery and music that resonate with Aboriginal culture, ensuring the messaging is both powerful and respectful.
Key to the campaign development has been the engagement with Aboriginal people, including those with lived experience, to ensure it reflects the unique experiences and perspective of Aboriginal people.
The tailored campaign will be rolled out across social media, online videos, Aboriginal radio stations, newspapers and out-of-home advertising.
It complements the broader ‘Coercion Hurts’ campaign that was launched in September.
The broader campaign has had a positive community response, including from victim-survivors and those working in the family and domestic violence sector.
More information and resources can be found at
As stated by Prevention of Family and Domestic Violence Minister Sabine Winton:
“Coercive control is an insidious form of abuse and it is completely unacceptable.
“This tailored campaign aims to highlight through a culturally appropriate lens that coercive control is a form of family violence.
“The Cook Government is committed to preventing family and domestic violence in our community and this campaign is just one way to help increase awareness and provide people with helpful information and resources.
“The response from Aboriginal stakeholders engaged during the development of the campaign has been very positive and their insights and feedback have been instrumental.”
Comments attributed to Nani Creative campaign Creative Director Kevin Wilson:
“Storytelling is an important part of our culture. It’s also a way for our mob to speak about serious issues. This campaign is created with Aboriginal cultural storytelling practices at the heart.
“The strength of this story is in the Elder speaking to mob about the serious issue of family and domestic violence, specifically coercive control. It aims to empower mob to share the story between themselves.
“By pulling on cultural levers, visual storytelling and spoken through the voice of an Elder, the message is authentic. The message is that coercive control is not part of our culture.”
