Children of the Street begins new campaign
By Derek Winkler
The PLEA Community Services Society of BC has begun a new campaign for its Children of the Street program, which works to prevent the sexual exploitation of children and youth. Developed by Will of Vancouver, the campaign encourages teenagers to consider the possible consequences of sharing nude photographs of themselves. The creative makes use of the image of an ellipis, which appears in many forms of online messaging when a participant is thinking of what response to send. The image is intended to represent the reluctance of teenagers who feel pressure to share nude images. The campaign consists of a series of animated videos that address various aspects of the issue, including feelings of pressure, anxiety or outrage. The seven-week campaign will run in Greater Vancouver and includes placements on Snapchat, TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, as well as out-of-home advertising and a website.
“When you see the ellipsis on your phone, you know someone is trying to find the right answer or potentially struggling to find the right answer,” said Will executive creative director Lisa Lebedovich. “It’s the perfect metaphor for teens wrestling with this issue, so we turned the ellipsis into characters that reflected the thoughts, feelings and anxieties of the teens behind it. To ensure our characters accurately reflected the experience of our audience, we interviewed teens and incorporated their insights and language into the final scripts.”