Children's Book from L'Enfant Bleu Association Warns Parents on Over 'Sharenting'

More and more parents are sharing photos of their children on social media. This trend even has a name: sharenting.

This practice now has terrible consequences: 50% of photos published on paedophilic forums are pictures taken by parents and innocently shared publicly on their social networks.

Unfortunately, few parents are aware of this risk.

After successfully alerting the world to child abuse via its multi-award-winning Undercover Avatar campaign, L'Enfant Bleu Association has decided to raise awareness among parents about a new topic by publishing a special children's book.

This book, intended to be read to young children by their parents, tells the story of Emma's favourite cuddly toy. It is so cute that Emma's mom can't help but take a photo of it and share it on her social media, publicly. This photo then goes viral and falls into strange hands: the cuddly toys enthusiasts.

At first glance, this cute story is meant to entertain children. But for parents, the reading doesn't end there. A note invites them to mentally reread the story, replacing the cuddly toy’s photo with their own child's.

At that moment, the story takes a different turn. The cuddly toys enthusiasts turn into paedocriminals who operate on social media to collect as many images of children as possible to feed paedophilic websites.

The postscript explains the risks of sharenting and directs readers to a dedicated page on the Association's website to educate them on good digital practices.

This book, conceived by Havas Play, illustrated by Chloé Mencarelli, and graciously published by Havas Édition, will be distributed throughout the summer to parents before they go on vacation, as well as at their holiday destinations. 

Lastly, to reach the largest number of French citizens, a communication plan offered by Groupe Phenix, Giraudy, MediaTransports, Instore Media and Retailink will allow this story to be discovered in the metro, train stations, and major tourist destinations through an advertising campaign redirecting to an e-book that can be accessed on tablets and smartphones.

“Approaching the school holidays, it seemed really important to us to communicate with parents about the risks of sharenting. This dual-purpose book is an effective and creative way to raise awareness among parents about the dangers associated with publicly sharing photos of their children on social media. In line with our long-standing collaboration with L’Enfant Bleu, we aim to have a real impact and change mindsets in order to protect children and raise awareness among their parents. This idea is also a true example of what our community planning can initiate thanks to its deep understanding of communities," explains Fabrice Plazolles, chief creative officer at Havas Play.

“This year again, L'Enfant Bleu continues its commitment to better protect our children in the digital space. Ideally, we should share their image as little as possible on social networks, but they are an integral part of French people's lives. However, the dangers associated with the internet are very real, even if they may seem distant to us and we are not always aware of them.

"With this book, we hope to convey a simple and educational message to parents: you can avoid the dangers of paedocriminal networks by being cautious about what you post on social media" develops Laura Morin, managing director of Association L’Enfant Bleu – Enfance Maltraitée.

Check out the full book here.