Time had run out for "deadbeat" parents in North Carolina and the "Governor's Crackdown for Children" campaign made sure they knew it.
In 1996, the state instituted tough laws on failure to pay child support, which became the backdrop for a bold public awareness campaign, launched by the James A. Fyock & Associates agency.
The agency used "Ten Most Wanted" posters to aid enforcement.
The program's strong-armed tactics included aggressive media relations, public service announcements and targeted outreach efforts that highlighted the latest laws for child support collection.
The campaign, with the umbrella theme of "Your Time Just Ran Out," is credited in part with locating 169,725 parents who owed child support and collecting $296.4 million in payments - a 16% increase over the previous year.
The push was more effective than previous efforts that relied on guilt tactics and parental responsibility.
These approaches simply didn't work, says Rhonda Little, public awareness specialist for the state's Child Support Enforcement Division (CSED). What was most effective, the state found, was wage garnishment but that required an exorbitant amount of time and money to locate people.
The new laws, administered by CSED, took a tougher stance on the child support issue by allowing names and pictures of offenders to be released and working with employers in other states to withhold paychecks of deadbeat parents.
"The basic message of the campaign was if you don't pay up, we're going to use multiple new tools to force you," says Little. And the umbrella theme referring to time underscored the urgency of the message.
Additional tactics included:
- Placing names and pictures of deadbeat parents on 31,000 "Ten Most Wanted" posters throughout the state. Venues included city halls, bus stations, credit unions and grocery stores; to provide a fair representation of the most hard core of offenders, the posters featured a woman (even though 95% of non-supportive parents are men) and a diverse mix of races and ages;
- Partnering with employers to withhold offenders' wages and distribute posters and brochures.
- Instituting a toll-free hotline and Internet site allowing people to anonymously report the "deadbeat" parents on the posters.
The Shame Factor
The $900,000 no-nonsense campaign caught some flak from advocacy groups that accused it of being archaic and punitive, says Shannon Reed, Fyock's VP of PR.
But overall, the community supported the enforcement tactics. "The campaign had a huge impact on the community. People called [CSED] afraid they'd be on the posters," says Reed.
The campaign hit a statewide media nerve starting with the Governor James B. Hunt's kick-off press conference that unveiled the first "Most Wanted" poster in January 1996.
The media effort involved two statewide media tours, four press conferences and op-ed letters to keep the public informed of new legislation that evolved throughout the year.
The initiatives resulted in more than 170 positive articles in newspapers and journals. The articles highlighted the new legislation, the program's success and local business participation.
Engagements complimented the press conferences and CSED employees spoke at more than 35 events targeting local communities, civic and business groups.
These efforts spurred interest especially in the business community.
Before they were formally contacted for support, Fyock and CSED received 28 requests for public awareness kits.
Tracking Results
Although the campaign raised considerable public awareness, it didn't have a baseline method of measuring what communications vehicle was most effective, says Reed.
"We know that the positive media and the PSAs led to an increase in the number of deadbeat parents found, but we couldn't determine any specific relationships."
To this end, the current campaign which has more of a preventive focus than an enforcement edge, has a telephone poll component that the agency will use to better track the affect of PR vehicles.
The agency also had the Most Wanted posters at the end of last year because CSED exhausted the state's pool of extreme offenders.
In addition, campaigns like this require fresh approaches to be effective, says Little.
This year, the focus is on preventing behavior that leads to irresponsible parenting. The major targets are businesses and schools. (James A. Fyock & Associates, Shannon Reed, 910/659-8440; CSED, Rhonda Little, 919/571-4114, ext. 315)
'Time' Theme Earns Regional Emmy
The Deadbeat Parents PSA spot created for North Carolina's Child Support Enforcement Division, by James A. Fyock & Associates garnered industry recognition with an emmy for Best PSA at the Twelfth Annual Midsouth Regional Emmy Awards in Nashville in January, 1998. Based on the campaign's umbrella theme of "Your Time Just Ran Out," the TV spot shows a man walking down a dark tunnel nervously looking over his shoulder while the narrative outlined the new penalties of failing to pay child support.
The PSA received tremendous statewide air play on nine TV stations. It aired a total of 2,830 times.
And the campaign compelled two Charlotte TV stations to distribute the print PSA in its circular to their viewing audiences.