Underfunding of youth services has led to an uptick in knife crime. TBWA\MCR has created an awareness and fundraising campaign for the lobbying and support group, Fighting Knife Crime London based on the insight that ‘more cuts lead to more cuts’.

The campaign aims to both raise awareness of the social issue and raise money for Fighting Knife Crime London. Out-of-home posters provide information on cuts to funding, as well as give audiences the opportunity to donate to the non-profit organisation via a QR code.

Three different variants of the campaign follow the same template: a close-up shot of a young person with a wound that doubles as a graph. Each graph highlights an area of funding for youth services that has been cut. On all three is the call to action: ‘Underfunding leads to knife crime. Help save lives. Donate here.’ The images were taken by David Boni Photography.

Speaking on the campaign, Bruce Houlder, retired judge and Founder of Fighting Knife Crime London, commented: “It has never been more important for communities to come together, to cut knife crime from our streets, and return hope through the power of genuine collaboration”.

Bringing important information to the public, the poster campaign will go live from the 23rd of October across 48 sites in and around London. The campaign will be supported on social channels. Media was planned by Build Hollywood.

Fighting Knife Crime London also has posters available to print on their website. The simple assets have QR codes linked to places that offer help and other resources. The organisation is encouraging people to print out the posters and pin them up in public areas where they are permitted.

It is hoped that the work will encourage awareness of funding cuts and its dangerous consequences. As Lisa Nichols, Executive Creative Director at TBWA\MCR, described: “Our aim with this campaign is to show that this decline [in funding youth services ]has a very real human cost”.

She continued, “We wanted to put a face to the statistics. We are proud to have produced this work for an organisation like Fighting Knife Crime, who work hard to reduce knife crime in the UK to stop young people becoming a fatal statistic”.

By educating the public on the importance of funding for youth services and providing them with the means to donate, ‘more cuts lead to more cuts’ brings to life the power of a practical purpose-driven campaign. The hard-hitting campaign combines action and awareness underlining that advertising has the power to have a real impact on social issues.