Women Are Survivors: Public Services Announcements on Violence Against Women in Latin America

Marta Mensa; Jean M Grow

doi:10.1177/10778012221104509

Women Are Survivors: Public Services Announcements on Violence Against Women in Latin America

Violence Against Women. 2023 May;29(6-7):1252-1274. doi: 10.1177/10778012221104509. Epub 2022 Aug 17.

Authors

Marta Mensa¹, Jean M Grow²

Affiliations

¹ Social Communication Institute, 91046Universidad Austral, Valdivia, Los Ríos, Chile.
² Diederich College of Communication, 5505Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA.

PMID: 35979629
DOI: 10.1177/10778012221104509

Abstract

This study considers the role that public service announcements (PSAs) play in addressing violence against women (VAW) in Latin America. Using content analysis, the study examines 407 PSAs about VAW from 20 Latin American countries. The results show that 62.3% of the PSAs encourage bystanders to denounce violence while portraying women as victims in 48.8% of the PSAs. However, 71.7% of PSAs did not include a helpline or how to report the crime, only 11.8% of the PSAs have non-narrative, or factual information, about VAW, and just 6.4% engage in compelling narrative messaging or storytelling.

Keywords: Latin America; PSA; advertising; violence; women.

MeSH terms

Crime*
Female
Humans
Latin America
Survivors
Violence* / prevention & control