Screenvision Media has announced its support for Feed Our Future, a powerful new advertising campaign that supports the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), the world's leading humanitarian organization fighting hunger worldwide. The advertisement, which aims to galvanize global cinema audiences into action against global hunger, will air in Screenvision Media theaters across the nation for eight weeks.
"As a proud member of SAWA, Screenvision Media is honored to help support and amplify this impactful advertising campaign in support of the United Nations World Food Program," said Katy Loria, Screenvision Media chief revenue officer. "Global hunger impacts everyone and we hope this campaign inspires moviegoers across the nation to take action and help end the epidemic."
Directed by Lynne Ramsay and produced by award-winning production company Somesuch & Co. SAWA, the Global Cinema Advertising Association, in association with the WFP, Feed Our Future will run on cinema screens in more than 25 countries with a call to action to download WFP's mobile-app, ShareTheMeal.
The advertisement shows a bustling news conference with journalists vying to interview the recipient of a breakthrough medical research award. But the journalists learn that there was ultimately no medical breakthrough – the chilling conclusion reveals that Miriam Adeke, the young woman in question, had in fact died of hunger when she was only eight years old.
"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, who with Garage Soho conceived the ad.
Following the ad, the audience is urged to take part in creating a world with Zero Hunger by downloading ShareTheMeal, the world's first app against global hunger. To further connect audiences with the advertisement, a unique Facebook Messenger integration with the ad will enable viewers to engage with the character of Miriam Adeke to learn more about her story and the issue of hunger by searching for ShareTheMeal on Facebook Messenger. 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.
"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 Program. 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 Program famous by using the power and impact of the Cinema Medium. SAWA encourages other mediums to do likewise," says Cheryl Wannell, CEO of SAWA.
"Three million children die every year of hunger or malnutrition," said Corinne Woods, director of communications, marketing and advocacy of the United Nations World Food Program. "When partners step up like SAWA and their members have, it helps us create a movement and generate support for our work to ensure that every child has the vital food and nutrition they need to not only survive, but thrive."
Feed Our Future www.wfp.org/sharethemeal
Screenvision Media https://screenvisionmedia.com/