Domestic Violence on Display

The Intervention Center Against Domestic Violence, an internet-based German nonprofit that offers to help domestic violence victims and perpetrators alike free of charge on its website, wanted to promote awareness of what it saw as an "invisible social problem." Despite their estimate that 20% of women had been in some sort of abusive relationship, they felt that not enough people were speaking out or acknowledging the reality of abuse.

Custom window decals depicting scenes of domestic violence were placed in the windows of high-visibility homes, drawing morbidly curious pedestrians, who two windows later were rebuked for their voyeurism and non-action with a second promotional sticker reminding them that "looking away supports violence." Appropriately chastised, passersby were directed to the organization's website.

I wonder how many concerned neighbors called the cops after seeing these windows and failing to read, two windows later, that it was only a guerrilla marketing promotion . That would make for some extremely awkward meetings in apartment hallways...