Police Scotland has come under fire following the launch of its hate crime awareness campaign which features a red cartoon character that has been dubbed a “pound shop version” of Sesame Street’s Elmo.
The ‘Hate Monster’ Campaign appeared on the Police Scotland website and YouTube channel, where viewers are warned that giving in to their anger or prejudice could lead them into committing a hate crime.
Scotland’s Hate Crime Act is set to enter into force by the end of the month, when “stirring up hatred” will become a criminal offence punishable by seven years in jail.
To accompany this, Police Scotland launched its ‘Hate Monster’ campaign, in which a bright, red cartoon monster “represents that feeling some people get when they are frustrated and angry and take it out on others,” the campaign webpage reads.
“The Hate Monster loves it when you get angry. He weighs you down till you end up targeting someone, just because they look or act different to you.”
The campaign claims that young men aged 18-30 “are most likely to commit hate crimes,” who may have “deep-rooted feelings of being socially and economically disadvantaged, combined with ideas about white-male entitlement”.
Scottish Tory justice spokesman Russell Findlay described the Hate Monster as a “pound shop version of a Sesame Street character” that “should never have seen the light of day”.
“While people rightly ridicule the ludicrous ‘Hate Monster’, the suggestion that people from deprived areas are more likely to commit alleged hate crimes is grossly offensive,” he said.
The Hate Monster campaign website reads: “Committing hate crime is strongly linked to a range of risk factors including economic deprivation, adverse childhood experiences, substance abuse and under-employment. Those who grow up in abusive environments can become addicted to conflict.”
The campaign warns the Scottish public that committing a hate crime “doesn’t make you feel better,” and that it “can really mess up your life in other ways too, like when it comes to things like finding a job”.
“Go on, be good to yourself. Don’t feed the Hate Monster,” it ends.
Critics of the imminent hate crime legislation have warned that it could lead to people being prosecuted for comments made in their own homes, and that it could overburden the police force.
Meanwhile, the Irish Government is set to proceed with its own hate crime legislation despite renewed calls for it to be paused following last week’s referendum defeats.
Finance Minister Michael McGrath said this week that the “Government has made commitments…We shouldn’t ignore the reality that there is a problem in parts of society, particularly on social media, and we don’t want to be a country that is tolerant of people inciting hate”.
The Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hated and Hate Offences) Bill would make the expression, or potentially even the possession of materials, deemed “hateful” to be a criminal offence.