Kathleen Wynne unveils new anti-sexual violence ad

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne has unveiled the latest ad from the province's public education campaign about sexual harassment and violence.

The videodebutedThursday at the 2015 Summit on Sexual Violence and Harassment in Toronto, andis the second installment in theprovince's multimedia awareness campaign, a pillar of the Wynne government's goal of ending sexual harassment and violence in Ontario.

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Like a similar video the province released earlier this year, the ad shows people at school, work and on dates making threats and inappropriate comments.

In one scene, two teenage girls say to the camera, "We're going to spread rumours about your sexuality all over school." In another, a man in the driver's seat of a car turns to the passenger and says, "It's that part of the night where you repay me for dinner."

It concludes with the tagline: "If it's not OK to say, it's never OK to do."

"The ad is really visceral, and I think that's really important,"Julie Lalonde, a spokeswoman for the violence prevention campaignDraw The Line, said."It gets you right away."

Sly Castaldi, executive director of Guelph-Wellington Women in Crisis, said the campaign is"engaging people to talk about sexual violence [and]sexual harassment in a way that's not been done before."

Making a difference

There is some evidence the campaign may beworking, Wynne said.

According to Ipsos Reid polls commissioned by the province, 37 per cent ofOntarianssurveyedbefore the first ad was released in March said they believedthey had an obligation to intervene if they witnessed sexual violence.By September, that number shot up to 58 per cent.

"I said to my staff, 'Imagine if we can actually make a difference on this. It would be remarkable,'" Wynne said Thursday. "Those stats show me we may actually be able to make a difference."

The government is spending $8 millionon the campaign.

The new ad will appear on a variety of TV stations around the province.