Prepared for Public Safety Canada
Supplier: Ekos Research Associates Inc.
Contract Number: 0D160-212095/001/CY
Contract Value: $68,829.71
Award Date: September 16, 2020
Delivery Date: December 21, 2020
Registration Number: POR 034-20
For more information on this report, please contact to: ps.communications-communications.sp@canada.ca
This public opinion research report presents the results of online focus groups testing three proposed concepts for the Online Child Sexual Exploitation ad campaign. The research was conducted by Ekos Research Associates Inc. on behalf of Public Safety Canada.
Cette publication est aussi disponible en français sous le titre: Mise à l’essai des concepts de la campagne publicitaire « Cyberexploitation sexuelle des enfants »
This public opinion research report presents the results of online focus groups testing three proposed concepts for the Online Child Sexual Exploitation ad campaign. The research was conducted by Ekos Research Associates Inc. on behalf of Public Safety Canada.
Cette publication est aussi disponible en français sous le titre « Cyberexploitation sexuelle des enfants »
This publication may be reproduced for non-commercial purposes only. Prior written permission must be obtained from Public Services and Procurement Canada. For more information on this report, please contact Public Services and Procurement Canada at: tpsgc.questions-questions.pwgsc@tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca or at:
Communications Branch
Public Services and Procurement Canada
Portage III Tower A
16A1-11 Laurier Street
Gatineau QC K1A 0S5
Catalogue Number: POR-034-20E
PDF: PS4-275/2-2021E-PDF
International Standard Book Number (ISBN): 978-0-660-37232-7
Related publications (registration number: POR 034-20):
© Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, 2021
For information regarding reproduction rights: ps.communications-communications.sp@canada.ca
The Government of Canada’s National Strategy for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation was launched in 2004 and expanded in 2009. In 2020, the Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse: Voluntary Principles was released to provide a framework to combat online sexual crimes against children and coordinate action between governments and industry partners. Canada’s Criminal Code serves to protect children from all forms of child pornography, the use of the internet to lure children, from sexual contact or touching, and the procurement of children for illicit sexual activity. Public Safety (PS) Canada has been leading the National Strategy. PS is preparing to launch a multi-year public education and awareness campaign on Online Child Sexual Exploitation. The campaign is a component of Budget 2019 that included $4.9 million over three years to support efforts to suppress Child Sexual Exploitation online.
The purpose of the research is to test the creative concepts developed for the multi-year public awareness campaign. The creative testing research will help to identify messaging and creative concepts (images, taglines, etc.,) that are more successful at conveying the components of the awareness campaign.
A total of 16 focus groups were conducted online. Separate groups were conducted among parents of children 12 and younger, parents of children 13 to 17, in the Atlantic, Ontario, Quebec, the Prairies and BC. One group was conducted in each age range in these regions, with the exception of Quebec where two groups were held with parents of teens (i.e., 11 regional groups in total). Five additional groups were conducted with Indigenous parents (1), parents with lower levels of education and income (1), those more recently immigrated to Canada (i.e., last 10 years) (2; 1 in French and 1 in English), and in lone-parent households (1).
Each focus group was an hour and a half in duration. Groups with Quebec participants were conducted in French. All others were conducted in English. Because of lower turn out in a few groups, additional interviews were held (6). Participants logged onto a Zoom video meeting to generally discuss their children’s online activity, their comfort as parents in staying up to date on their children’s online activity, and to see and hear draft mock-ups of three proposed concepts for 30 second videos. They were asked to react to each one in terms of overall impressions, clarity of message and appropriateness of the approach in getting parents to visit the Online Child Sexual Exploitation (OCSE) website. They were also asked to provide a series of ratings of each concept along similar dimensions.
Between six and seven participants were recruited to attend each discussion, using the Probit online panel, targeting Canadian parents of children between the ages of 5 and 17, keeping in mind a mix of participants in terms of gender, and socioeconomic status (recruitment screener can be found in Appendix A). In total, 78 individuals participated in the concept testing discussions, (see details in following table). Discussions occurred between November 23 and December 1, 2020.
| Group | Attended |
|---|---|
| Atlantic under 13 | 4 |
| Atlantic 13-17 | 4 |
| Ontario under 13 | 4 |
| Ontario 13-17 | 5 |
| Quebec under 13 | 7 |
| Quebec 13-17 | 5 |
| Quebec 13-17 | 5 |
| Prairies under 13 | 5 |
| Prairies 13-17 | 5 |
| BC under 13 | 5 |
| BC 13-17 | 6 |
| Immigrant parents (English) | 5 |
| Immigrant parents (French) | 5 |
| Indigenous parents | 4 |
| Low income/education parents | 4 |
| Single parents | 4 |
The focus group guide (provided in Appendix B) was developed by Ekos in consultation with Public Safety Canada, along with a rating sheet used to rate each concept and provide an overall rating and ranking of the top concepts to quantify the results and obtain an initial reaction from each participant prior to discussion. Participants received an incentive of $100 for their participation. Video recordings, researchers’ notes and observations from the focus groups formed the basis for analysis and reporting of results.
Overall, there were a few overarching themes expressed by participants in discussing the three concepts:
Real is important for believability, including specific examples of how risk occurs, what the predator or victim "look" like.
The following table highlights positive and negative reactions to each of the three concepts.
| Concepts | Positive Reactions | Negative Reactions |
|---|---|---|
| People Like Me: Girl texting with "boy" (Online friends may not be who they think they are) |
|
|
| Never Alone Online: Children are never alone online (Learn the signs of OCSE) |
|
|
| The Talk: Something you should know (1 in 5 targeted are under 12) |
|
|
Results of ratings provided by participants show the Never Alone concept to be more positively rated on tone & approach, clarity of message and garnering attention. It is tied with The Talk in terms of relevance. There is no clear "winner" in terms of the impact of going to the website: all three concepts are essentially tied on this dimension. In overall ratings of each concept there is also no clear winner, although People Like Me was ranked less often as the most preferred concept, and more often as the least preferred. This suggests that while the Never Alone concept is received more positively as the concepts are shown, one by one, when they are all presented, each of the three are seen to have merit in reaching parents and Never Alone and The Talk are viewed equally as positively.
As reflected in both the discussion and ratings, each of the three concepts has strengths that make it powerful, and attractive to parents. Results suggest that each of these concepts "will work" and each can benefit from the addition of some of the strengths of the other two approaches. This may be in part because parents have a strong appreciation and see value in a campaign of this nature. They believe the issue is urgent and that all types of parents can benefit from increased awareness as well as information to better inform them. It may be for this reason that they appear to be particularly receptive to all viable approaches and that they see merit in other respondents’ points of view.
It should be kept in mind when reading this report that findings from the focus groups are qualitative in nature, designed to provide a richer context rather than to measure percentages of the target population. These results are not intended to be used to estimate the numeric proportion or number of individuals in the population who hold a particular opinion as they are not statistically projectable.
The contract value for the POR project is $68,829.71 (including HST).
Supplier Name: Ekos Research Associates
PWGSC Contract Number: 0D160-212095/001/CY
Contract Award Date: September 16, 2020
To obtain more information on this study, please e-mail to ps.communications-communications.sp@canada.ca
I hereby certify as Senior Officer of Ekos Research Associates Inc. that the deliverables fully comply with the Government of Canada political neutrality requirements outlined in the Communications Policy of the Government of Canada and Procedures for Planning and Contracting Public Opinion Research.
Specifically, the deliverables do not include information on electoral voting intentions, political party preferences, standings with the electorate, or ratings of the performance of a political party or its leaders.
Signed by:
Susan Galley (Vice President)