SOAP Q: One Life Joins Forces With STOMP Out Bullying!

In January 2011, ABC Daytime’s ONE LIFE TO LIVE began telling the story of teenager Shane Morasco (Austin Williams) being both bullied and cyberbullied. This week Jack Manning’s (Andrew Trischitta) "Lame" bullying of Shane escalates to dangerous proportions both in person and online driving Shane to take extreme actions where he ultimately ends up on the high school roof (scenes airing Monday, April 4th and Tuesday, April 5th were shot on the roof of OLTL’s studios in New York City). For the telling of this story, OLTL joined forces with STOMP Out Bullying™, who stands as a leader in efforts to prevent bullying and cyberbullying among kids and teens, to air PSAs during the telling of this story (March 16th and April 4th), reports We Love Soaps.

Since the creation of ONE LIFE TO LIVE in 1968, the show has always looked for opportunities to inform while entertaining. Child and teen bullying and cyberbullying are at an all-time high. An issue that used to exist primarily while kids were at school, has taken on new extremes with social media. There are staggering statistics such as 1 out of 4 teens are bullied; 43% of kids have been bullied while online; 1 in 4 have had it happen more than once. The intentional cruelty of bullying has become a far too common a story in the news. The writers and producers of OLTL were profoundly affected by these devastating stories and made the decision to tell Shane’s story.

“The response to this story has been powerful,” said Frank Valentini executive producer. “Bullying is an issue that is so disturbing and far too prominent. Our objective is to shine a light on the cruelty of bullying through our storytelling and if we can help make a difference for one person, then I think we have been hugely successful.”