You dumb cow’: SWR spotlights abuse hurled at staff in outdoor campaign

South Western Railway has released an out-of-home campaign to show the abuse its workers receive from customers.

Created by St Luke’s, “Abuse stays with our staff” was inspired by real stories shared by staff across SWR.

The work (mock-ups below) features moments of everyday life captured through a POV-shot, such as taking a shower and making a cup of tea.

It also features the abusive language the staff have experienced at work, including phrases like “you absolute moron", “you dumb cow” and “you stupid old fool”.

All four executions feature copy saying: “The thoughtless abuse given to our staff can stay with them. Be kind.”

Richard Denney, joint chief creative officer at St Luke’s, said: “People travel by train for a variety of reasons and sometimes when they are feeling stressed or are wrapped up in their own problems, they don’t always realise that what for them is a throwaway comment said in a moment of frustration can really hurt someone.

“The aim of this campaign is to make people stop and think about how their words can affect others.”

“Abuse stays with our staff” will appear across all owned poster sites across the SWR network in the south and south west of England from 4 March.

Peter Williams, customer and commercial director at SWR, said: “As frontline workers, our colleagues can unfortunately often be the receivers of verbal abuse from agitated customers.

“This campaign uses powerful imagery to educate people about how colleagues endure the lingering emotional damage of the abuse they receive in their everyday life. We want people to think before they take their agitation out on colleagues, and also remind them to always be kind.”