A girl from Milton Keynes is set to have her face emblazoned across the city as part of an innovative new SaferMK campaign to tackle drink related violence in bars and clubs.

The campaign, called ‘I support lads that don’t fight’, will launch on Monday (7/6), to coincide with the start of the World Cup, and will feature Maria Strolia, who was selected to be the face of the campaign by the general public in Milton Keynes.

Maria, aged 20, from Downs Barn, was one of 176 girls who entered the Heart Radio competition to be the face of SaferMK last month. Maria was then selected by a panel to be one of the top ten girls who then faced a public vote to become the winner.

Maria said: “I was really shocked when Heart called and said I had won the competition. I go out a lot in Milton Keynes with friends and have experienced first hand how too much drink can lead to fights and people getting hurt. More often than not, if the lads involved were sober, they wouldn’t get involved at all, but they seem to think it shows weakness to back down and walk away.

“This campaign is about letting lads know that us girls want them to be the bigger person by walking away from trouble. Girls don’t find drunken violence attractive in any way, it just ruins everybody’s night out and can end in someone being seriously hurt or worse.

“I will be going out and about on a number of promotional nights to coincide with the England games. We want as many girls as possible to show their support for the campaign by coming to see us and picking up some ‘I support lads that don’t fight’ giveaways, like lip balm and flip-flops. We want them to help us get the message to the guys that fighting is not going to impress us girls or anyone else.”

The first promotional event is on Saturday 12 June, where a team of people, led by Maria, will be touring the bars and clubs in the city handing out giveaways to reinforce the ‘I support lads that don’t fight’ message. They will also be handing out water as part of the promotion and the Safe Hut will be making a welcome return. Groove has kindly donated a security guard and a room to store the giveaways and water and Lloyds have donated some water.

As part of the campaign Maria will feature on posters which are being displayed in bars and clubs across the city. Licensed premises including Opus, Groove, Oceana, Lloyds, Secklow 100, Revolution, Snowzone, City Limits and the Slug and Lettuce are also supporting the campaign by getting their staff to wear the campaign T-Shirts on the nights of the England games.

Natalie Webster, Public Place Violence Reduction Co-ordinator, said: “We decided to take a completely different approach to this anti-violence campaign. Instead of using shock tactics and images of violence, we decided to adapt an idea which had been used in Australia and proved successful at capturing the attention of younger people. Our statistics show that the majority of violent incidents in Milton Keynes involve men and that’s why we have decided to get the girls on board to help us spread the message. Lads are far more likely to take notice of a poster or message if it’s being given by a girl.

“Milton Keynes is bidding to be a host city for the 2018 World Cup and we want to show everyone that Milton Keynes is safe place to enjoy a night out and enjoy watching the World Cup. The majority of people don’t go for a night out with the intention of causing trouble. Unfortunately, alcohol can play a big part in changing people’s attitudes and personality and make us far less tolerant. We want to encourage people to walk away from volatile situations and understand that the people of Milton Keynes won’t support or tolerate people who get drunk and fight.”

Dates of ‘I support lads that don’t fight promotions:

Saturday 12 June 6pm – 2am

Friday 18 June 4pm -12am

Wednesday 23 June 3pm – 9pm

Saturday 26 June 10pm – 5am

Details of the campaign, the promotional nights and when and where Maria will be out and about during the campaign can be found on the SaferMK Facebook page.