Onbewust Asociaal?

SIRE is currently running its 100th advertising campaign, which began a few months ago focussing on anti-social behaviour in Dutch society. Not conscious anti-social acts, but the kinds of things people do without necessarily thinking about how others are effected by their actions.

Think along the lines of dogs doing their business in the street and their owners leaving it for an unfortunate pedestrian to stand in. Or school kids throwing crisp packets and cans on the pavement or in canals on their way back to school from the supermarket. Or the commuter putting a bag down on the empty seat next to him on the bus. Or how about the tinny music blaring from the Ipod on the tram? All little things that bug a lot of people.

You have probably seen the advert series on the TV:




On the website for the onbewust asociaal campaign there is a test available to take, to see if your behaviour is annoying (without realising perhaps) to others around you.

Here are some statistics based on the answers across the Netherlands:

• On average 16,744,000 kilos of dog poo is left on the pavements per year in the Netherlands
• 11,152,000 people step in dog poo every year
• per year nearly 11,000,000 people are annoyed by rubbish on the streets

The discussion that has followed centres on the premise that this campaign legitimises some of this anti-social behaviour by labelling it as unintentional, where in fact, many people know exactly what they are doing when they leave the remains of their dog's breakfast in the park or walk into a shop expecting service whilst talking on their mobile phone. What do you think? What onbewust asociaal behaviour irritates you?