Tim McNulty
THE Junta has been accused of trivialising gender violence in a new campaign featuring smiling victims and stock images.
More than a thousand women have been murdered by their partners or former partners in Spain since 2003, when official records began.
Critics have said the new campaign puts the responsibility of abuse on women and avoids addressing gender violence directly.
“Speaking of abuse and centering the campaign on the victims reduces the effectiveness of this type of action to raise awareness,” said the national Equality Minister Carmen Calvo.
In one image a grey-haired woman smiles next to a message that reads ‘she has suffered abuse but life is always stronger.’
The same woman has been pictured in a US advertisement for a dental clinic, this stock image was used despite the campaign costing €1.2 million.
The head of the regional equality department, Rocío Ruiz, of Ciudadanos, has defended the campaign.
Ruiz said: “No one has ever attacked an initiative that looks to show that women can move forward, that there is a future after the ordeal of gender violence.”
