Skip to Content

The tag line of artist Saint Hoax’s awareness and prevention campaign for domestic violence asks, “When did he stop treating you like a princess?”

It’s a fair question, and the “Happy Never After” campaign – which urges victims of domestic abuse to report their attackers – doesn’t stop there:

The likenesses of Disney princesses, shown bruised and battered, are utilized to drive the point home. Quite deliberately, the images are shocking.

“Disney princess are perceived as ideal females,” Hoax said. “They belong to a fairytale land where happy ever afters are bound to happen.”

“But what happens after the happy ever after?”

The posters jarringly and brutally tie the disturbing topic of domestic violence to characters who played a large part in many women’s childhoods.

“By portraying Disney princesses as victims,” he says, “I’m proposing the idea that no girl/woman is safe from being emotionally/physically/sexually abused.”

Even princesses like Ariel, Jasmine, Cinderella and Aurora would not be immune in the real world, the artist says, and no one should put up with such behavior.

Shock value aside, Hoax describes the purpose of his projects simply: “Victims of abuse are not alone and it’s never too late for them to take a stand.”