Exacerbated by lockdown isolation and economic uncertainty, domestic violence spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic. To help victims find the support they need, SPAR supermarkets in Austria added helpline details to printed receipts.
The initiative ran in Lower Austria in August 2021, spreading to SPAR and BILLA supermarkets and BIPA drugstores across the country in November and December 2021, to coincide with International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
Tesco ran a similar campaign in June 2020, following reports that domestic violence cases in the UK had risen by 20% since the beginning of that country's first pandemic lockdown.
