Kantar NZ youth & porn research wins gold in Canada

TORONTO, Wednesday: Kantar Public New Zealand’s research into youth and porn has won gold at the 2022 global ESOMAR Research Effectiveness Awards, the top award for the research industry, presented in Ontario today.

The research was a partnership with Kantar Public’s client, the New Zealand government agency Te Mana Whakaatu/Classification Office headed by the chief censor, and the Collaborative Trust which ensures people working with young people have access to high quality information about healthy youth development relevant to rangatahi in Aotearoa New Zealand.

The research informed a number of projects that support young people, parents, teachers, health care workers and those working with youth to change the conversation around pornography using a youth centred approach. 

Kantar NZ co-managing director Jocelyn Rout said: “This gold award shows the research we’re doing in New Zealand is up with the best in the world. The ESOMAR awards attracted over 50 entries from more than 20 countries.

“Te Mana Whakaatu/Classification Office and the Ministry of Education collaborated using the research to create a resource Ka huri I te korero – Changing the conversations around pornography that supports teachers to talk about pornography with young people when delivering relationships and sexuality education.

“The Ministry of Education also used the research to update the curriculum guidelines for relationship and sexuality education and created an online safer digital behaviours tool that was successfully piloted in 1000 schools to develop critical thinking in nine to 12-year olds. These teaching tools enable New Zealand children and young people to have constructive conversations about what they see.

“This ad received more than 22 million views and attracted global media attention.”

“The research informed the internationally acclaimed Keep it Real Online viral porn advert featuring two actors playing fake porn stars who turn up to an unsuspecting teenage boy’s house.

“This ad received more than 22 million views and attracted global media attention with stories in the BBC, Guardian, New York Post and Fox News.”

Rout says the Keep it Real Online ad was the publicly visible tip of the iceberg of how the research has been applied to to break down the taboos around talking about youth and porn – the goal set by David Shanks, then chief censor, when he commissioned the research in 2018.

“Our research also played a key role in sexual and public health experts, the Light Project, securing funding to deliver a national youth and porn stakeholder response in New Zealand,” Rout said.

“This included training workshops, resources, tools and pathways of care for a wide range of services that work with youth.

“The Light Project also used the research insights to develop a website www.intheknow.co.nz to help teens navigate the porn landscape, and resources to help adults have safe conversations with kids about porn.”

About Kantar Public
Kantar Public, which has offices in Wellington and Auckland,  partners with clients around the world on the next generation of public policy challenges. Kantar Public combines expertise in human understanding with advanced technologies to provide the evidence and advisory services for successful decision-making in government and the public sector. By delivering global best practice through local expertise, Kantar Public helps clients build a better public realm.

• kantarpublic.com/nz