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Oct 15, 2008 9:13 pm US/Central
Ad In Dallas: "One Day My Husband Will Kill Me"
DALLAS (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
A local mother shared her story of domestic violence.
"I had three broken eyes, black eyes; my eyes blood shot, mouth messed up. I'm still trying to maintain this image that there's nothing going on in my home," said the victim, who did not want to be identified.
It wasn't until her teenage daughter left home that she realized her kids were being affected. After 13 years, she decided to leave. "I had woke up and said, 'What is going on with you? The kids are leaving you.... you need to leave,'" she said.
Her story is familiar to Paige Flink, the Executive Director of The Family Place. "Children absorb the violence," she said.
"Sometimes I think people have been desensitized to the fact that children suffer, and it is a lethal problem," said Flink.
For that reason
the Family Place created their latest advertising campaign. The advertisements show images of children saying they might commit suicide or grow up to marry an abuser.
"One day my husband will kill me," one advertisement reads. "Girls growing up in abusive households are more likely to end up with abusive partners."
"When I grow up, I will beat my wife," another advertisement about the cycle of abuse reads.
Officials at the Family Place initially approached billboard advertisers, but were refused.
"It surprised me given some of the messages you see on billboards," said Flink.
In a statement, CBS Outdoors said, "In a billboard format, only the headlines and children's images would be readable to a passing motorist. Without the explanatory paragraph, the poster can be both misleading and disturbing."
Clear Channel Outdoors said they "reserve the right to reject advertising if it does not meet their community's standards for appropriateness or the copy is deemed offensive."
But DART officials did not turn them away. Now 45 busses have the ads on the outside of the busses. The ads are also on the inside of 300 buses.
The Family Place says they hope the ads will empower the community to ask how they can help stop abuse and help the abused get out of their situation before it harms them or their kids.
If you or someone you know is in trouble, you can always call the Family Violence Hotline at 214-941-1999.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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