Students at the AAA School of Advertising's Johannesburg campus recently designed an array of innovative posters to drive awareness of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), and its impact on communities ravaged by HIV/AIDs in Southern Africa.
"The objective of the poster campaign is to encourage sophisticated, educated individuals and corporations to donate money to the WFP," says Huggins. "Our challenge was two-fold: the first was catching the attention of people who work 14-hour days and deal with multi-million rand deals on a regular basis. We also wanted to target the media, who have a huge role to play in raising awareness around social responsibility issues."
The WFP is the largest humanitarian agency in the world, feeding more than 100-million people in 80 countries each year. It strives to assist as many needy people in stricken areas as humanly possible, hence the urgent need for sponsorship. At present, adds Huggins, large corporate companies have no real existing attitude towards the WFP, as they have received very little exposure to the initiative.
Considering that the general public is desensitised to sad images of hungry or dying people, Huggins briefed the students to be mindful when using 'shock tactics' in their creative works. "In light of this, the students 'hit the nail on the head' with their emotive posters," said Huggins.
One of the favourite student posters displays a handful of corn kernels cleverly arranged into the shape of an AIDS ribbon. On a stark white background, the lettering underneath says, "This war can't be won on empty stomachs." These words reinforce the fact that the WFP feeds an astounding 2.9 million school-going children in Southern Africa.
On a simple red background, the reverse-white lettering on another of the popular posters reads, "I started working at 5:30am, and I still don't have enough to feed my family." These startling words are indicated as coming from the mouth of Ntsepe, an 11 year-old beggar. This reiterates the message that the WFP currently feeds 10-million people in Southern Africa alone.
Another student poster that has proved a hit with the WFP draws one in with fuzzy white lettering, which spells the word, 'FOCUS.' This is followed by, "Hard on an empty stomach, isn't it? Concentration is a problem for millions of children, who don't get fed at home. We feed them in school so that their bodies and minds can grow. To do this, we need your support." The slogan, "Invest in possibility" is also included. In white and red lettering on a black background, the words on this poster also reiterate the incredible amount of school-going children it feeds in Southern Africa.
All three posters display the WFP logo and Web site address underneath their striking messages.
For further information about the UN World Food Programme, or if you would like to donate to the cause, visit www.wfp.org.
