Sire, the advertising industry body which produces campaigns to improve society, is focussing on getting people to be nicer to each other in its new series of online, tv and radio ads.

The campaign #DOESLIEF (be nice) kicks off on Monday. ‘It is not that the Dutch are not nice, but there is a lot of unkind behaviour,’ Sire director Lucy van der Helm says.

Research carried out ahead of the campaign shows that almost 70% of the Dutch think people are less nice to each other than they used to be and 60% are scared to make comments about unpleasant behaviour because of the risk of aggression.

Vandaag lanceren we onze nieuwe campagne: #DOESLIEF. Deze campagne confronteert Nederland met groot en klein onaardig gedrag. Lees er alles over op onze website! pic.twitter.com/1YsuK0hvmP

— SIRE (@stichtingSIRE) March 4, 2019

Similar results came up in the last issue of the SCP’s ongoing ‘citizens perspective’ research project. The government think-tank found almost half of the Dutch think society is deteriorating.

However, research by the national statistics agency CBS in 2017 found the Dutch are treating each other with greater respect.

In 2008, 25% of people said they were not treated with respect by unknown people on the street, and this this has now dropped to 21%.