NEW YORK – Monday, 24 September 2018: A powerful new global cinema advertising campaign featuring leading names from the film, advertising and humanitarian worlds, and aimed at stirring global cinema audiences into action to tackle global hunger, launched in theaters across the world and on Facebook and Instagram today, to coincide with the start of the annual United Nations General Assembly session in New York. SAWA, the Global Cinema Advertising Association, in association with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), the world’s leading humanitarian organization fighting hunger worldwide, created the “Feed Our Future” campaign to highlight the potential that is lost every time a child dies of hunger.
Starting today, “Feed Our Future” will air across cinema screens in more than 30 countries. The 60-second cinema advertisement was conceived by advertising legend Sir John Hegarty and The Garage Soho. It was directed by acclaimed film director Lynne Ramsay and produced by award-winning production company Somesuch & Co.
The unnerving narrative depicts a bustling news conference with journalists vying to interview the recipient of a breakthrough medical research award. As the short film progresses, the journalists learn that ultimately there was no medical breakthrough – the chilling conclusion reveals the young woman in question had in fact died of hunger when she was eight years old. Following the ad, the audience is prompted to take part in creating a world with Zero Hunger by downloading ShareTheMeal, the world’s first app against global hunger.
“The creative challenge here is to find a way of engaging the audience without resorting to endless images of starving children. Creating empathy by reminding the viewer that when a child dies, we all lose,” said Sir John Hegarty.
Inspired by the Cinema advertisement’s message, Facebook is bringing the campaign to life online through an integrated digital campaign. Borne from a “Hack for Good” at the recent Cannes Lions Festival for Creativity, a team of award-winning creatives from across the industry and Facebook’s Creative Shop created a Facebook Messenger experience to give viewers the opportunity to engage with the character from the advertisement and learn more about hunger, a Facebook Live launch of the advertisement from New York, and an engaging video campaign on Facebook and Instagram to prompt users to donate to WFP and help “Feed Our Future.” At a time when 821 million people – roughly one in nine of the global population – still go to bed on an empty stomach, this new digital integration will bring the offline, online by connecting viewers with the cinema advertisement and the issue in a brand new way.
A Facebook Messenger experience will enable viewers to engage with the ad’s main character, Miriam Adeke, to learn more about her story and the issue of hunger by searching ‘ShareTheMeal’ on Messenger.
“Hunger is a major global issue. It is therefore fitting that the Cinema medium, with its global reach, should be proactive in driving awareness for the World Food Programme. Millennials who are educated, socially aware and a hard to reach demographic, make up a large part of the Cinema audience and these are the people that can and will facilitate change. Since 2015, the Cinema Medium has stepped up to support the Sustainable Development Goals and we are committed in 2018 and beyond to make the World Food Programme famous by using the power and impact of the Cinema Medium. SAWA encourages other mediums to do likewise,” says Cheryl Wannell, CEO of SAWA.
“Around the world, hunger is once again on the rise, and it exacts a painful toll on all of us in lives lost and human potential wasted. In a powerful way, the ‘Feed Our Future’ campaign shows what we all lose each time a child dies of hunger,” said David Beasley, Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme. “We are proud to work with SAWA and the cinema medium to engage and motivate movie audiences around the world to take action with us to ensure no child continues to suffer from hunger. Because with all the wealth in the world today, no child should.”
Thanks to the generosity of SAWA and its network of Global Cinema Advertising companies, and the support of Unique X who will distribute the ad, “Feed Our Future” will air on cinema screens in Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Finland, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Peru, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, and Uruguay.
For more information about the “Feed Our Future” advertisement and campaign, and to learn how to get involved in creating a world with Zero Hunger, please visit: www.wfp.org/feedthefuture.
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