First United Mission conducts fundraising effort
By Adnews Staff
DDB Canada in Vancouver office has created a multimedia campaign for First United Mission, a homeless shelter in the Downtown Eastside region of the city. The aim of the campaign is to encourage donations to the shelter. Print ads illustrate how people living on the street are unable to obtain basic items such as toothpaste and underwear. The creative depicts a store where these items are on sale at extremely high prices. The ads use the tagline, "Try to see things through the eyes of the homeless." Interior transit ads are also in use. These ads seek to present homeless people as individuals who each have a unique story. These ads use the tagline, "There's always more to the story." The campaign also includes a replica menu that has been placed in Vancouver dumpsters and garbage cans. The menu items include "rotten apple cores with maggots," and "stale bread buns covered in cigarette ashes." They carry the tagline, "Try seeing things through the eyes of the homeless." "The aim of the ads is to correct the stereotype that homeless people are just lazy and opportunistic and to highlight that there's a lot more to their stories than just a lack of housing," said Cosmo Campbell, associate creative director at DDB Canada. The First United Mission is operated by the United Church of Canada. DDB Canada has provided the mission with advertising for four years.