L'Enfant Bleu, a French association that fights against child abuse, sought to raise awareness of and educate parents on the dangers of "sharenting" — a portmanteau that combines the words "share" and "parenting" — which is the act of parents inadvertently sharing photos of their children with strangers via public social media channels. To do so, the brand created a children's book with a subtle message.
L'Enfant Bleu's objective was to raise awareness about the risks behind "sharenting" and inspire parents to reconsider the impact of their actions when sharing on social media.
For years, L'Enfant Bleu has undertaken many initiatives that have assisted thousands of children in France. However, the digital age is raising new challenges on this front. Social media has become an integral part of people's lives, and nowadays sharing content with the outside world — beyond our immediate circles — is considered normal.
Doing so has made it much more common to expose children to strangers. In fact, it is often the parents themselves who overexpose their children on public social media accounts. However, they forget that the pictures and videos they post are not only seen by family and friends.
This practice, known as "sharenting" is not without risk. In fact, 50 percent of the photos posted on child pornography forums are actually pictures taken by parents and publicly shared on social media.
The main target audience for this campaign was the parents of French children. However, the organization also wanted to reach opinion leaders, politicians, and decision-makers to generate real change in society.
The main idea was to create a children's book. But instead of being crafted to educate children, it would be a learning tool for parents. When parents read this book to their child, they would discover together the cute story of Emma's teddy bear. It is such a cute teddy bear that Emma's mother can't help but take a photo and share it on her social media. The photo then traveled around the world and fell into the hands of strangers who were teddy bears enthusiasts.
However, for parents, that is not the end of the story. Instead, the book invited parents to re-read the story from a new perspective, mentally replacing the teddy bear photo with that of their own child. Sitting next to each other, parents realized that these teddy bear's fans are in reality online predators hijacking photos.
The book worked as a media itself that allowed L'Enfant Bleu to share its message and reach parents in a very effective way.
The Hidden Story was available in both print and digital versions.
The physical version was distributed in FNAC, a French retail chain that specializes in cultural and electronic products. In one of their main stores in Paris, close to the Champs Elysées, L'Enfant Bleu organized a free book distribution and a meeting between members of the association and the public.
The digital version was promoted through digital out-of-home (DOOH) spaces everywhere in France — railway stations, underground stations, and shopping centers. People could scan a QR code and access the digital version of the book.
The organization released the book during summer break, when parents share the most photos of their children.
Both versions were sent to journalists and influencers, who usually share some pictures of their children. The physical version was also sent to the French senators and members of Parliament so that they would be prompted to talk about the dangers of sharenting.
To date, more than 800,000 parents have read The Hidden Story. Even the most influential and socially conscious parents publicly admitted that they were unaware of the danger of their actions.
The campaign attracted the attention of all major channels nationwide. Additionally, the French Prime Minister also engaged in the debate, and a few weeks later France became the first country in the world to pass a law ensuring the protection of children's image rights. Because this problem knows no borders, L'Enfant Bleu already started distributing the book worldwide in the hopes of one day aligning all governments with France's leading initiative.
