Advertising can be funny, innovative and engaging, but it can also be life-changing. I have created an advertising campaign for Hope for Justice, an anti-slavery charity, in the hopes of making a change within our community.
My research shows that vulnerable children in the UK made up nearly 1/2 of referrals in the NRM (National Refferral Mechanism) in 2020, whilst more than 1/2 of UK adults confessed to not knowing what the County Lines exploitation of children is or the signs of it. This is a big problem since there is an estimated 27,000 children in England who are being exploited by gang members without people’s knowledge. This campaign aims to increase awareness of County Lines exploitation in the UK through storytelling.
I obtained the original brief for this campaign through a UCA alumnus. I was very shocked upon researching into the topic of slavery, and how prevalent, but unseen it is across the UK. Many people think that slavery is a myth or that it ended with the slave trade. In fact, slavery is more serious now than ever before. As of 2022 there is almost 50 million people enslaved worldwide and people are so unaware of it, that they would not recognise the signs of slavery at all. This campaign highlights the importance of learning the signs of exploitation, because we could quite literally be saving someone’s life by simply knowing the signs of exploitation and who to contact.
Through this creative campaign, you will learn about Mike, a vulnerable boy and his County Lines story. Educating people on this topic is so important, because what a lot of people do not realise is that their child could be at risk of exploitation, too. Anyone’s child could be. However, raising awareness about these issues could prevent them from happening in the first place. Just like Hope for Justice, I want to make a change in the world by educating people on topics that they may not want to hear about; because no one wants to hear that their child could be at risk of exploitation.
However, these hard topics have to be talked about within our community if we want to put an end to it. Knowing that I can make a change in our community is the reason I chose to do advertising. Spread the message to help charities like Hope for Justice gain awareness, so they can prevent, rescue, restore and reform within our community in order to help save vulnerable children and adults. The more people that are aware of County Lines exploitation, the more children that can be saved.
