Main content

Time to Update the Stranger Danger Message?

Many parents have grown up with the 鈥淪tranger Danger鈥 message promoted by government safety films. But a UK charity thinks it has developed a better message to keep children safe

Child abduction by strangers is extremely rare, but the danger looms large in the minds of many parents. One reason is that for the past 50 years or so, governments have created public information campaigns around the message of 鈥淪tranger Danger鈥. In the UK, the US, Canada and many other countries too, these videos were played in the media and in schools.
The videos portrayed in stark terms the risk of talking to adults you did not know who appeared to be friendly. But a new generation of childcare experts believe this is not the most effective message to protect children. Most abductions are by people children already know. And there is a worry that a general fear of strangers is not good for a child鈥檚 social development - or for society in general. World Hacks meets the charity Action Against Abduction as they teach a new message: Clever Never Goes.

Presenter: Harriet Noble
Reporter and Producer: Dougal Shaw

Photo Caption: Stranger Danger
Photo Credit: 大象传媒

Release date:

Available now

24 minutes

People fixing the world on YouTube

Watch stories of people changing their world on the World Service English YouTube channel

Podcast