The Canadian Women’s Foundation and a Toronto advertising agency faced a dilemma last year as they prepared to launch their campaign, Signal for Help, which they developed for women facing domestic abuse.
“It’s a question that we really debated at the very beginning when launching it, which is should it be a secret sign, should it be something that is not actually super well known, so that it’s not known by … perpetrators?” said David Toto, president of the advertising firm Juniper ParkTBWA.
“Or should it be known no matter what because in any case, the more people know, the better.”
They opted for the latter, a decision that may have helped save the life last week of a missing teenage girl from North Carolina who was rescued by police after using the hand gesture. She’s believed to have learned the distress signal after it went viral on the social media platform TikTok.
Hand gesture is simple
“It was really relieving to hear that this young woman was able to do this and that people understood what was going on and that they were able to call for help in that circumstance,” said Andrea Gunraj, the Canadian Women’s Foundation vice-president of public engagement.
The hand gesture is simple: Tuck the thumb into the palm, then cover the thumb with four fingers. It’s a way in which women facing domestic abuse can convey a message of help during a video call without leaving a digital trace, such as a text or email.
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But the gesture was used in another way on Nov. 4. A motorist in Kentucky contacted police after observing a girl in a car who seemed to be in distress and was giving that one-handed gesture that she needed help, Laurel County Sheriff’s Deputy Gilbert Acciardo told CBC News.
“We didn’t know what that meant. We had no idea what the TikTok signal was. But obviously the motorist did,” Acciardo said.
Police caught up with the vehicle and arrested the driver. James Herbert Brick, 61, was charged with unlawful imprisonment — first-degree and possession of matter portraying a sexual performance by a minor over the age of 12 but under age 18. The 16-year-old girl, who had been reported missing from Asheville, N.C., travelled with the suspect into Kentucky, Acciardo said.
“Heobviously thought she was waving at individuals and she wasn’t. She was using that signal, the TikTok signal, to signify, ‘I’m in distress,'” the deputy said.
“Thank goodness there was a motorist out there that interpreted that, phoned 911,” he said. “It was just a wonderful resolution.”
Acciardo added, “We don’t know what this guy was going to do, but we felt like we saved the young girl’s life.”
Pandemic led to rise in domestic violence reports
The Signal for Help campaign was launched last year, prompted by increasing reports of domestic violence during the COVID-19 pandemic.
With lockdowns, people were at higher risk of getting trapped at home with their abusers, Gunraj said. But they were also making more use of video calls.
WATCH | Rise in domestic violence could be linked to pandemic isolation, advocates say:
Increase in domestic violence could be linked to pandemic isolation, advocates say
4 months ago
Suspected homicides linked to domestic violence in Quebec this year have surpassed the total for 2020 and advocates say pandemic restrictions that kept people isolated at home are one factor. The rising cases of violence against women continues across the country. 2:01
“So those two factors together made a simple one-handed gesture that you could use without leaving a digital trace very helpful in a situation where somebody might be stuck in a violent home,” she said.
To come up with the right gesture, research began into different movements, other hand signals and international sign languages, Graham Lang, chief creative officer at Juniper ParkTBWA,wrote in May on the Little Black Book, a website that focuses on advertising news.
“It was critical that whatever it was that we created was unique and different, to not cause confusion across languages and cultures.
‘A metaphor for being trapped’
Lang said the foundation and the agency needed to develop a signal that could be made by a person while holding a phone — and a one-handed gesture was the solution.
“It came to us from the idea of tucking your thumb as a metaphor for being trapped,” he wrote.
Andrea Gunraj, vice-president of public engagement at the Canadian Women’s Foundation, says the goal was to create a one-handed gesture that would signal on a video call that help is needed but wouldn’t leave a digital trace, such as a text or email. (Canadian Women’s Foundation)
They then ran the proposed signal by multiple experts in the fields of sign language, domestic violence and gender equality to ensure that it would adequately convey their message, Lang wrote.
Following the campaign launch, the signal was adopted and promoted by the U.S.-based Women’s Funding Network. But it went viral after a TikTok user filmed the campaign video that recreates a situation in which the hand gesture would be used and posted it on her account.
In the case of the missing North Carolina girl, a motorist who recognized the signal immediately called 911. But that’s not necessarily the intention of the campaign, Toto said.
“The purpose was for responders or people that would recognize the signs to ask directly: ‘What do you need, what’s the best course of action,'” he said.
WATCH | U.S. teen rescued after using viral TikTok sign:
Teenager rescued after using viral TikTok hand gesture
10 hours ago
An abducted 16-year-old was rescued in Kentucky after another motorist saw the girl use a viral TikTok hand gesture signalling the need for help. The sign was introduced by a Canadian on the social media platform last year. 2:03
Gunraj said they have received a few calls of other situations where people saw the signal and were able to respond, follow up and make sure that the individual was getting the support they needed.
“But I’m really mindful of the fact that these things rarely come out in public conversation,” she said. “So I can imagine it being used far more commonly than ever would come back to us, ever would be spoken about and certainly ever would make the news.”
Montreal Alouettes wide receiver Tyson Philpot has announced he will be out for the rest of the CFL season.
The Delta, B.C., native posted the news on his Instagram page Thursday.
“To Be Continued. Shoutout my team, the fans of the CFL and the whole city of Montreal! I can’t wait to be back healthy and write this next chapter in 2025,” the statement read.
Philpot, 24, injured his foot in a 33-23 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Aug. 10 and was placed on the six-game injured list the next week.
The six-foot-one, 195-pound receiver had 58 receptions, 779 yards and five touchdowns in nine games for the league-leading Alouettes in his third season.
Philpot scored the game-winning touchdown in Montreal’s Grey Cup win last season to punctuate a six-reception, 63-yard performance.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa sustained a concussion for the third time in his NFL career, leaving his team’s game Thursday night against Buffalo after running into defensive back Damar Hamlin and hitting the back of his head against the turf.
Tagovailoa remained down for about two minutes before getting to his feet and walking to the sideline after the play in the third quarter. He made his way to the tunnel not long afterward, looking into the stands before smiling and departing toward the locker room.
The Dolphins needed almost no time before announcing it was a concussion. The team said he had two during the 2022 season, and Tagovailoa was diagnosed with another concussion when he was a college player at Alabama.
Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said Tagovailoa would get “proper procedural evaluation” and “appropriate care” on Friday.
“The furthest thing from my mind is, ‘What is the timeline?’ We just need to evaluate and just worry about my teammate, like the rest of the guys are,” McDaniel said. “We’ll get more information tomorrow and take it day by day from here.”
Some players saw Tagovailoa in the locker room after the game and said they were encouraged. Tagovailoa spoke with some players and then went home after the game, McDaniel said.
“I have a lot of love for Tua, built a great relationship with him,” said quarterback Skylar Thompson, who replaced Tagovailoa after the injury. “You care about the person more than the player and everybody in the organization would say the same thing. Just really praying for Tua and hopefully everything will come out all right.”
Tagovailoa signed a four-year, $212 million extension before this season — a deal that makes him one of the highest-paid players in the NFL — and was the NFL’s leading passer in Week 1 this season. Tagovailoa left with the Dolphins trailing 31-10, and that was the final score.
“If you know Tua outside of football, you can’t help but feel for him,” Bills quarterback Josh Allen said on Amazon following the game. “He’s a great football player but he’s an even greater human being. He’s one of the best humans on the planet. I’ve got a lot of love for him and I’m just praying for him and his family, hoping everything’s OK. But it’s tough, man. This game of football that we play, it’s got its highs and it’s got its lows — and this is one of the lows.”
Tagovailoa’s college years and first three NFL seasons were marred by injury, though he positioned himself for a big pay bump with an injury-free and productive 2023 as he led the Dolphins into the playoffs. He threw for 29 touchdowns and a league-best 4,624 yards last year.
When, or if, he can come back this season is anyone’s guess. Tagovailoa said in April 2023 that the concussions he had in the 2022 season left him contemplating his playing future. “I think I considered it for a time,” he said then, when asked if he considered stepping away from the game to protect himself.
McDaniel said it’s not his place to say if Tagovailoa should return to football. “He’ll be evaluated and we’ll have conversations and progress as appropriate,” McDaniel said.
Tagovailoa was hurt Thursday on a fourth-down keeper with about 4:30 left in the third. He went straight ahead into Hamlin and did not slide, leading with his right shoulder instead.
Hamlin was the player who suffered a cardiac arrest after making a tackle during a Monday night game in January 2023 at Cincinnati, causing the NFL to suspend a pivotal game that quickly lost significance in the aftermath of a scary scene that unfolded in front of a national television audience.
Tagovailoa wound up on his back, both his hands in the air and Bills players immediately pointed at him as if to suggest there was an injury. Dolphins center Aaron Brewer quickly did the same, waving to the sideline.
Tagovailoa appeared to be making a fist with his right hand as he lay on the ground. It was movement consistent with something that is referred to as the “fencing response,” which can be common after a traumatic brain injury.
Tagovailoa eventually got to his feet. McDaniel grabbed the side of his quarterback’s head and gave him a kiss on the cheek as Tagovailoa departed. Thompson came into the game to take Tagovailoa’s spot.
“I love Tua on and off the football field,” Bills edge Von Miller said. “I’m a huge fan of him. I can empathize and sympathize with him because I’ve been there. I wish him the best.”
Tagovailoa’s history with concussions — and how he has since worked to avoid them — is a huge part of the story of his career, and now comes to the forefront once again.
He had at least two concussions during the 2022 season. He was hurt in a Week 3 game against Buffalo and cleared concussion protocol, though he appeared disoriented on that play but returned to the game.
The NFL later changed its concussion protocol to mandate that if a player shows possible concussion symptoms — including a lack of balance or stability — he must sit out the rest of the game.
Less than a week later, in a Thursday night game at Cincinnati, Tagovailoa was concussed on a scary hit that briefly knocked him unconscious and led to him being taken off the field on a stretcher.
His second known concussion of that season came in a December game against Green Bay, and he didn’t play for the rest of the 2022 season. After that, Tagovailoa began studying ways where he may be able to fall more safely and protect himself against further injury — including studying jiu-jitsu.
“I’m not worried about anything that’s out of my hands,” McDaniel said. “I’m just worried about the human being.”
NEW YORK (AP) — When her husband turns on the television to hear news about the upcoming presidential election, that’s often a signal for Lori Johnson Malveaux to leave the room.
It can get to be too much. Often, she’ll go to a TV in another room to watch a movie on the Hallmark Channel or BET. She craves something comforting and entertaining. And in that, she has company.
While about half of Americans say they are following political news “extremely” or “very” closely, about 6 in 10 say they need to limit how much information they consume about the government and politics to avoid feeling overloaded or fatigued, according to a new survey from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and USAFacts.
Make no mistake: Malveaux plans to vote. She always does. “I just get to the point where I don’t want to hear the rhetoric,” she said.
The 54-year-old Democrat said she’s most bothered when she hears people on the news telling her that something she saw with her own eyes — like the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol — didn’t really happen.
“I feel like I’m being gaslit. That’s the way to put it,” she said.
Sometimes it feels like ‘a bombardment’
Caleb Pack, 23, a Republican from Ardmore, Oklahoma, who works in IT, tries to keep informed through the news feeds on his phone, which is stocked with a variety of sources, including CNN, Fox News, The Wall Street Journal and The Associated Press.
Yet sometimes, Pack says, it seems like a bombardment.
“It’s good to know what’s going on, but both sides are pulling a little bit extreme,” he said. “It just feels like it’s a conversation piece everywhere, and it’s hard to escape it.”
Media fatigue isn’t a new phenomenon. A Pew Research Center survey conducted in late 2019 found roughly two in three Americans felt worn out by the amount of news there is, about the same as in a poll taken in early 2018. During the 2016 presidential campaign, about 6 in 10 people felt overloaded by campaign news.
But it can be particularly acute with news related to politics. The AP-NORC/USAFacts poll found that half of Americans feel a need to limit their consumption of information related to crime or overseas conflicts, while only about 4 in 10 are limiting news about the economy and jobs.
It’s easy to understand, with television outlets like CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC full of political talk and a wide array of political news online, sometimes complicated by disinformation.
“There’s a glut of information,” said Richard Coffin, director of research and advocacy for USAFacts, “and people are having a hard time figuring out what is true or not.”
Women are more likely to feel they need to limit media
In the AP-NORC poll, about 6 in 10 men said they follow news about elections and politics at least “very” closely, compared to about half of women. For all types of news, not just politics, women are more likely than men to report the need to limit their media consumption, the survey found.
White adults are also more likely than Black or Hispanic adults to say they need to limit media consumption on politics, the poll found.
Kaleb Aravzo, 19, a Democrat, gets a baseline of news by listening to National Public Radio in the morning at home in Logan, Utah. Too much politics, particularly when he’s on social media sites like TikTok and Instagram, can trigger anxiety and depression.
“If it pops up on my page when I’m on social media,” he said, “I’ll just scroll past it.”
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Sanders reported from Washington. David Bauder writes about media for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder.
The AP poll of 1,019 adults was conducted July 29-August 8, 2024, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.0 percentage points.
