Calling it both edgy and unusual, Crime Stoppers has launched a new campaign targeting women who are in a relationship with someone involved in a gang.
At a news conference Friday morning, models strutted down a mock runway inside Vancouver’s Roxy Cabaret wearing outfits made of items they’d find in jail like used paper towels and duct tape.
She then introduced another model wearing a necklace “made of well-used tea bags.”
Martin, a former BC Liberal director of engagement and news anchor, said the campaign may be taking a tongue-in-cheek approach but is aimed at tackling a very serious problem.
The campaign is called ISMBFG, which stands for “I stashed my boyfriend’s gun.”
WATCH: (Aired May 2017) #WorldWithoutCrime – Crime Stoppers launches new campaign
“We are wanting to get people’s attention, we wanted to do something different that would get people looking and talking about this very, very serious problem,” Metro Vancouver Crime Stoppers Executive Director Linda Annis said.
Ads will soon be shared on social media and seen on hundreds of billboards, transit shelters and on displays in restaurants, malls and gyms.
“What we’re really encouraging is anybody that knows a woman that’s involved in this gang lifestyle or even women themselves, call Crime Stoppers,” Annis said.
For years, Metro Vancouver suburbs have been home to gunfire and tragedy as criminals exchange shots in an undeclared gang war that’s claimed lives and left families devastated.
“Drug dealers are losers, they are on a downhill spiral to a very bad end… and will drag you down with them,” Vancouver Bar Watch Program Chair Curtis Robinson said at the news conference.
“If you’re a young woman that’s in trouble or you’ve made a decision that you wish you hadn’t made… look for a way to escape,” he added.