Official newspaper of The University of Texas at Austin

The Daily Texan

Official newspaper of The University of Texas at Austin

The Daily Texan

Official newspaper of The University of Texas at Austin

The Daily Texan

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October 4, 2022
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Communications students launch campaign to educate about abusive relationships

datingadvicewithsean
Courtesy of datingadvicewithsean.com

A group of UT students is launching a video campaign this week to define and combat relationship abuse, coinciding with Sexual Assault Awareness Month. 

The video series is titled “Dating Advice with Sean,” and it tackles dating abuse with a talk show-style format featuring a clueless host who gives comically poor advice. 

“The campaign focuses on the misunderstanding of a healthy relationship to help open up the conversation and get people talking about what a healthy relationship actually looks like,” said Jennifer Lawrence, public relations senior and public relations director for the campaign.  


Advertising senior Christian Trudeau, the screenwriter of the video series, said he hopes this unique approach can be more successful than traditionally styled campaigns. 

“We’re using an intentionally terrible video to speak about a terribly sad yet important topic,” Trudeau said. “I’m not sure if this execution will work, but it’s worth trying something new, and if it can make a meaningful impact on one person, the campaign is a success.”

The campaign originated as a project for a course taught by Chad Rea, advertising and public relations lecturer, titled “Integrated Communications Campaigns.” The course teaches students how to combat social issues through video campaigns, but most other groups chose to work on lighter topics, Lawrence said. 

The first episode of the campaign, titled “The Dinner Date,” is currently on YouTube, and more episodes will appear on the group’s website as the series continues through April and May. 

Advertising senior Spencer Beltran, who plays the titular Sean in the series, said the campaign group hopes to accomplish something positive. 

“We wanted to tackle a real, massive problem in the world,” Beltran said. “If the video actually goes viral, it’s attempting to make a positive change and not some trash that just adds to the clutter in the media.”

The campaign decided to pursue this topic after seeing the “constant stream of news about sexual assault on college campuses,” Lawrence said. She mentioned the recent University report that revealed 15 percent of undergraduate women have been raped as a reason for the campaign’s importance. 

“As college students, we know that we and our peers are the most vulnerable to be in an unhealthy relationship or worse, and we wanted to put an end to that,” Lawrence said. “We don’t think anyone should be abused. We especially don’t want anyone to accept abuse because they don’t understand what abuse is.”

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Communications students launch campaign to educate about abusive relationships