A coalition of shopping centre, retail, fuel and convenience, pharmacy, security and cleaning industry groups has joined forces to launch a nation-wide ‘Be Kind in Retail’ campaign for the upcoming Christmas period.
Launched this week and running until 24 December, the campaign is part of an ongoing collaborative effort to combat alarming levels of abuse, violence and the use of weapons against workers.
The coalition is comprised of the Shopping Centre Council of Australia (SCCA), National Retail Association (NRA), Australian Association of Convenience Stores (AACS), Australian Security Industry Association Limited (ASIAL), Pharmacy Guild of Australia, and Building Service Contractors Association of Australia (BSCAA).
With a central message of ‘Kindness Never Goes Out of Style’, the coalition are calling on the community to be kind to security guards, cleaners, retail and pharmacy staff, across the upcoming Christmas trading period.
Vital message
The nation-wide campaign has gained increased urgency as anti-social behaviour and crime in retail settings continues to increase, including causing serious mental and physical harm to workers who are simply doing their job.
Such incidences include workers being yelled and sworn at, pushed and shoved, threatened and intimidated, punched, and weapons being displayed and used on them – and many incidences are not associated with the attempted theft of goods. Concerningly, this can often include repeat or recidivist offenders.
“Workers across our industry are experiencing an alarming level of intolerable abuse, particularly in fuel and convenience stores, and they deserve respect and kindness at all times,” said AACS CEO Theo Foukkare.
Extensive reach
The ‘Be Kind in Retail’ campaign will see advertisements and messaging displayed on digital and print media across the nation’s major shopping centres. Six campaign messages will be in rotation, ensuring the message stayed relevant throughout. One simple message states: “Please be kind to our security officers, cleaners and retail workers”.
SCCA members are running the campaign advertisements for free, across more than 300 shopping centres, and 3500 digital screens, and an estimated commercial advertising value of $7 million. The campaign will also run across each industry partners’ social media channels and in a number of retail outlets.
“It’s really pleasing to launch the Be Kind in Retail campaign with our partners from the retail, pharmacy, fuel and convenience, security and cleaning industries, with simple message for the community to be kind and show respect in our retail environments this Christmas,” said SCCA Chief Executive Angus Nardi.
“Any incident that causes harm to someone is simply tragic, and we are calling on the community to help stamp out needless aggression and violence against workers in retail settings.”
