BITE Insight

FCB Inferno have set out to further highlight the problem of global illiteracy with their latest Project Literacy piece, First Words. The project was founded and convened by Pearson, the FTSE 100 educational publishing house. As a publishing house, the vital aim of the campaign was to put reading and writing within everyone’s reach. Pearson are aiming to push illiteracy up the political agenda, with the ultimate goal to be that by 2030, every child will be born with the means to become literate.

At the heart of the project is the reality that illiteracy, in children and adults, is the invisible root cause of many of the world’s fundamental problems. Teach the world to read and write and you can simultaneously tackle greater issues facing people across the globe. The Project began by releasing the Alphabet of Illiteracy, using the fundamentals of reading and writing to demonstrate the link between illiteracy and 26 major problems facing the world today.

This year’s campaign, First Words: Give Your Word, centres on the individual stories of adults who have never learnt to read, aiming to break the intergenerational cycle of illiteracy. If you can teach one generation, those individuals can teach the next. The video ends with the shocking statistic that there are close to one billion adults around the world who cannot read or write. The campaign reminds viewers that, as a child, learning to read takes commitment. But, as an adult, the same process of learning also requires courage.

Pearson has adopted a cause that aligns with their beliefs as an educational publishing house. Project Literacy gives Pearson a story and a purpose that allows them to be a genuine part of the global conversation and authenticates the campaign’s message.