Department of Justice forced grandparents' hug ad to be taken down after online backlash

LAST UPDATE | 22 Oct

THE DUBLIN RAPE Crisis Centre (DRCC) has suspended a media campaign that sought to promote discussions around consensual hugs and embraces, including between grandparents and their grandchildren, following intervention from the Justice Minister.

Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan said this morning that the ad was “both inappropriate and demeaning to grandparents”. 

He said it was removed by the DRCC following engagement from his officials and does not represent the views of the government.

Writing on X, O’Callaghan said: “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.”

The video was picked up by conservative and right-wing commentators across the globe, while international media including the New York Post are among those who have covered the campaign since it launched in recent days.

An advert (which you can view here) featured in the campaign depicted children opening the door to their grandparents, with one child happily going ahead with hugging their elders, while another child is shown as uncomfortable with receiving a hug.

The ‘We Consent’ campaign is funded by the Department of Justice and is part of an ongoing campaign around consent education.

In the ad, which was launched this week on TV, a voiceover carries the message after the young girl expresses discomfort at receiving a hug: “Not everyone wants a hug. Even from the people who love them.”

It adds: “Awkward? Maybe. Important? Absolutely.”

However, it came in for criticism over depicting the discomfort of the young girl when her grandparents looked to embrace her.

Responding on Thursday afternoon, DRCC told The Journal that it created a video series – featuring the grandparents clip and two other videos – for its social media channels “based on feedback from over 20 consent workshops with younger and older people”.

“Part of the workshops involved sharing participants’ own experiences of instances when they felt uncomfortable. The scenarios depicted in the video series came up very frequently in all the workshops,” the DRCC said.

“The videos were created with volunteers and staff and reflected these conversations. It was made on a low budget and promoted online via our social media channels.”

According to the DRCC, the grandparents video was launched on social media in mid-September but “we have removed it from our social media channels due to the negative attention it has attracted in the last 24 hours”.

The DRCC added:

We do not want that negativity to impinge on and distract from the vital work that we as a centre do in supporting victims and survivors and improving awareness of these important issues across society.

It’s understood the other two 25-second videos featured male youths watching TV when one of their mothers walks just as a romantic scene comes on the television.

The other is of a young girl asking her father where babies come from, with the intended message being that the various scenarios are good opportunities to talk in an appropriate way with children about issues around consent and sex.

Both of those other clips have now been removed.

Department intervention

Earlier, the Department of Justice, which provided funding for the campaign, said that the videos have been “removed” from the DRCC’s social media channels so that a “review” can be carried out.

It added that while it did provide funding, the videos are “not part of a Government advertising campaign”.

“‘We-Consent’ is a programme created and developed by the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, aimed at informing, educating, and engaging the public about all forms of consent,” the department said.

“Social media videos shared recently as part of this programme were produced by DRCC at a low-cost using volunteers and are not part of a Government advertising campaign.”

The department added that it “understands that DRCC intends to review these videos”.

“They have been removed from their social media channels to enable this review,” the department said.

Political reaction

Aontú leader Peader Tóibín called the advert “bonkers” and said the “government need to answer for this” in a post on social media.

Speaking further on RTÉ Radio One’s David McCullough programme, the Meath West TD said that the advert was “planting the seed that a grandparent’s hug may be insidious and a suspicious activity”, which Tóibín said he found “really wrong”.

He added “we need to build resilience among children in this country”, and that a grandparent will have the “emotional intelligence” to know when a child doesn’t want to be hugged.

“I can’t understand why the State thinks it needs to be in this space, it’s not a criminal justice space,” he said.

Tóibín further claimed that the state “owes grandparents an apology” over the advert.

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With reporting by Jane Matthews