South Western Railway has launched a new OOH campaign highlighting some of the grating verbal abuse its workers have been subjected to and the lasting impact it has.
Entitled ‘Abuse stays with our staff’, it was devised by creative agency St Luke’s and launched across all owned poster sites on the SWR networks in the south and south-west of England on 4 March.
The campaign’s aim is to reduce abusive behaviour towards staff and alleviate the long-term impact of insulting words suffered by workers.
It follows research into the experiences of SWR colleagues, who shared their stories of verbal abuse from customers.
The creative, which is shot through a POV lens, captures moments of everyday life such as making a cup of tea, preparing soup, taking a shower and returning home from work. The humanising images are accompanied by the cruel phrases delivered to them during their day at work such as “you absolute moron”, ” you dumb cow” and “you stupid old fool”.
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Each execution also features the words: “The thoughtless abuse given to our staff can stay with them. Be kind.”
“As frontline workers, our colleagues can unfortunately often be the receivers of verbal abuse from agitated customers,” said South Western Railway customer and commercial director Peter Williams.
“This campaign uses powerful imagery to educate people about how colleagues endure the lingering emotional damage of the abuse they receive in their everyday life. We want people to think before they take their agitation out on colleagues, and always be kind.”
St Luke’s joint CCO Richard Denney added: “People travel by train for a variety of reasons and sometimes when they are feeling stressed or are wrapped up in their own problems, they don’t always realise that what for them is a throwaway comment said in a moment of frustration can really hurt someone.”
“The aim of the campaign is to make people stop and think about how their words can affect others.”
