stop rape bread bags campaigns 2001 - 2008

Vergewaltigung kommt nicht in die Tüte! (Rape - no way!) - a stop rape paper bag campaign by Karin Heisecke and Silke Pillinger - winners of the V-Day Stop Rape Contest 2001 © KH

The Stop Rape Paper The Stop Rape Paper Bag Campaign in Bag Campaign in

GermanyGermany2001 - today2001 - today

V-Day Victories:V-Day Victories:


In 2001 V-Day and Equality Now organised the first Stop Rape Contest to encourage women around the world to envision a world free from sexual violence and to formulate concrete action plans to get there.

V-Day’sV-Day’s Stop Rape Contest Stop Rape Contest


V-Day’sV-Day’s Stop Rape Contest Stop Rape Contest

Stop Rape Contest Finals10 February 2001 Madison Square Garden, NYC

Karin Heisecke and Silke Pillinger, two bakers’ daughters from Germany, had the idea for a campaign using paper bags - and won!


The winning idea:The winning idea:

To reach as many people as possible in Germany, bakeries would be involved - they are part of the local landscape across the country, in cities as well as in rural areas.

The paper bags that bread and pastries are sold in would become a medium to break the silence around sexual violence against women and to provide information on services for survivors.


What’sWhat’s printed on the bag? printed on the bag?Factual information would help to

raise awareness among the general public - for instance:

• statistics on how widespread sexual violence is,

• that in most cases, the rapists come from the direct social environment of the victim, or

• that only 10 to 15% of all rapes are reported to the police.

This kind of information would be printed on bread paper bags and then - literally - brought on the (breakfast) table. Prototype of stop rape paper

bag - front


The other side of the paper bag would be used to advertise:

•hotline numbers/contact details of service providers for victims, and

• a range of side events that would take place during the campaign.

Prototype of stop rape paper bag - back

What’sWhat’s printed on the bag? printed on the bag?


The first V-Day stop rape paper The first V-Day stop rape paper bag campaignbag campaign

From late September 2001 til end of November 2001, the first stop rape paper bag campaign, financed by V-Day, took place in Saarbrücken, Germany, with the slogan “Vergewaltigung kommt nicht in die Tüte!” (“Rape: No Way!”)


The first Stop Rape Paper Bags in The first Stop Rape Paper Bags in SaarbrSaarbrüücken 2001:cken 2001:

large size bag - front back


330,000 paper bags were printed and 330,000 paper bags were printed and distributed in 30 bakeries in distributed in 30 bakeries in

Saarbrücken (200,000 inhabitants)Saarbrücken (200,000 inhabitants)

Karin Heisecke worked with the family planning association (ProFamilia), the Rape Crisis Centre (Frauennotruf), the Women’s Officer of the city government of Saarbrücken, and with enthusiastic bakery owners to let the idea become reality...


On the International Day for the Elimination

of Violence Against Women 2001, special

pretzels were distributed in stop rape paperbags in the main

shopping street of Saarbrücken

Karin with stop rape paper bag and women‘s pretzel


Since then, the stop rape paper Since then, the stop rape paper bag idea has been replicated bag idea has been replicated

across Germany ...across Germany ...

... and beyond...... and beyond...

Since 2001, there have been more than

60 60 bread bag campaigns with

the slogan “Vergewaltigung/ Gewalt kommt nicht in die

Tüte!”


2002Idar-Oberstein / Köln / Trier and Trier-Saarburg county

2003Federal State of Bremen / Berlin – Neukölln / Berlin - Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf / Dresden / Ludwigsburg (incl. Winnenden and Freiberg) / Counties Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Müritz, Demmin and city Neubrandenburg / Schwerin / Rhein-Hunsrück-County/Simmern / Province Südtirol (Italy)

2004Federal State of Thüringen / Berlin / Delmenhorst / Pinneberg county/ Düren County / Ennepe-Ruhr-County / Essen / Counties Hohenlohe, Schwäbisch Hall, Heilbronn and Main Tauber (region Heilbronn Franken) / Nürnberg region / Oberhausen / Rosenheim county


2005Berlin / Bielefeld / Göttingen / Hagen / Langenhagen / Saarlouis county / Stade county / Wesel county / Counties Pinneberg, Segeberg, Stormarn, duchy of Lauenburg and the cities of Lübeck and Kiel

2006Federal State of Schleswig-Holstein / Berlin / Detmold / Elbe-Elster-County / Frankfurt am Main / Jena / Leipzig / Counties of Lüneburg, Harburg and Uelzen / Coesfeld county, Münster and northern Ruhrgebiet / Traunstein county, Oberbayern / Ulm / Wolfsburg

2007Federal State of Schleswig-Holstein / Amberg and Amberg-Sulzbach county / Augsburg / Berlin / Anhalt-Bitterfeld county / Groß-Gerau county / Leipzig / Leverkusen / Olpe county / Osterholz county / Ravensburg county / Rotenburg (Wümme) county / Uelzen / Wolfsburg / Canton Thurgau (Switzerland) / Linz (Austria) / Villach (Austria)


Areas in red = paper bag campaigns 2001 – now

(rural areas, big cities, counties and entire federal states of

Germany)

Since 2001, the anti-violence paper bags have been distributed by over

40004000 bakeries and pastry shops, butchers,

health food shops, greengrocers, market stalls, petrol stations,

pharmacies, and book shops...


Local and international celebrities Local and international celebrities and community leaders have and community leaders have

supported the campaigns:supported the campaigns:

mayors, heads of regional districts, federal state politicians, police

presidents, radio and newspaper editors, bishops, pastors and a'imma,

university professors, athletes...


... for example, in Berlin, the campaign ... for example, in Berlin, the campaign featured:featured:

Turkish kickboxing world champion Cengiz Koç

Eastern German boxing legend Axel Schulz


Since 2001,

close to 10 million 10 million paper bagspaper bags

have been distributed

reaching an estimated35.6 million individuals


Since 2001, close to TEN MILLION paper bags have Since 2001, close to TEN MILLION paper bags have been distributed across Germany - and beyond:been distributed across Germany - and beyond:


Almost 700700 media reports

have covered the paper bag

campaigns!

The campaigns helped to bring the issue of The campaigns helped to bring the issue of violence against women to many more peopleviolence against women to many more people::


Belgian film maker Marie Vermeiren made the documentary “...kommt nicht in die Tüte! ...No way!” about the first paper bag campaign in Saarbrücken. It was screened in film festivals, V-Days, women’s art festivals, exhibitions and political events in Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the UK.

The campaigns helped to bring the issue of The campaigns helped to bring the issue of violence against women to many more peopleviolence against women to many more people::

The bakery paper bag campaign The bakery paper bag campaign inspired some inspired some ““spin-offs“:spin-offs“:


Cool campaign spin-offs:Cool campaign spin-offs:

During the paper bag campaign in Berlin, construction companies distributed heater airing tools and tape measures featuring slogans against domestic violence and the phone number of a helpline


Cool campaign spin-offs:Cool campaign spin-offs:

In Ennepe-Ruhr county and the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein, pharmacies distributed pocket tissues with anti-violence slogans and helpline numbers


What next?What next?A campaign in YOUR town?

More ideas?

Get in touch, get involved - Until the Violence Stops!


Thank you to V-Day and to all the people Thank you to V-Day and to all the people who made the campaigns possible!who made the campaigns possible!

[email protected]


For more information, feedback, suggestions, or if you are interested in organising a stop rape paper bag campaign yourself, contact:

Karin Heisecke: [email protected]

Birgit Bertram: [email protected]

The figures in this presentation are results of a survey by Birgit Bertram and Karin Heisecke, based on information available on the internet and provided by many campaign organizers who responded to questionnaires and who sent sample bags, press clippings and final reports in the first half of 2008. A big thank you to all who contributed!

Berlin/Brussels, January 2009

stop rape bread bags campaigns 2001 - 2008

Documents

stop rape paper bag

stop rape paper bags

stop rape paper bag

vday stop rape contest

rape contest finals

kh karin heisecke

die tte

silke pillinger winners