New Ad Campaign Targets Childhood Hunger
The Advertising Council and Feeding America, a domestic hunger relief organization, introduced a public service campaign on Thursday to tackle childhood hunger.
An ad from the new campaign by The Advertising Council and Feeding America, a domestic hunger relief organization.
According to data released on Wednesday by the Agriculture Department, almost 16 million children, or more than one in five, face hunger in the United States. This condition can affect their future physical and mental health, academic achievement and economic productivity.
The department also found that close to 50 million Americans were living in “food insecure†households, or ones in which some family members lacked “consistent access throughout the year to adequate food.†And it found that although the figures were unchanged since the economic downturn began in 2008, they were much higher than in the previous decade.
The ad campaign is the latest initiative in a long collaboration between the Ad Council and Feeding America, which each year supplies food to more than 37 million Americans through a network of some 200 local food banks. Those food banks, in turn, distribute food to 61,000 food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters.
Awareness efforts by the two groups began in the late 1990s, when Feeding America was called America’s Second Harvest. Previous advertising â€" some featuring celebrities like the actors Matt Damon and Ben Affleck â€" was aimed at raising awareness about the problem of hunger.
A TV spot this year, created by the San Francisco-based Cutwater, featured the “Today†co-host Savannah Guthrie and focused on childhood hunger. As preparation, Ms. Guthrie visited the Fox Run Elementary School in Norwalk, Conn., which participates in a program run by the Connecticut Food Bank, part of the Feeding America network. One child she spoke to mentioned a “food angel who leaves baskets of food outside the house with all the food the family needs,†a concept that became Cutwater’s inspiration for the latest campaign.
The new ads are being released to coincide with Feeding America’s Hunger Action Day, part of the organization’s Hunger Action Month, held annually in September. They include TV, radio, print, outdoor and digital executions.
Television spots use video of workers and volunteers at the Food Share food bank in Oxnard, Calif., which is also part of the Feeding America network; they are depicted wearing drawings of angel wings. The voice-over says, “They’ve earned their wings and you can, too.â€
Radio spots feature the singer Kelly Clarkson, the boxer Laila Ali, the chef Curtis Stone and Ms. Guthrie. In one, Ms. Clarkson says, “17 million kids in America don’t know where their next meal is coming from or if it’s even coming at all. That’s why the Feeding America nationwide network of food banks gets surplus food to hungry kids. They’re like food angels. And you can earn your wings, too. Find out how at FeedingAmerica.org.â€
Priscilla Natkins, an executive vice president of the Ad Council, said that when the organization began working on hunger relief efforts, only one in 10 Americans was hungry; that number is now one in six adults and more than one in five children.
“One reason we’ve chosen to focus on children is that it is a more poignant approach of illustrating the problem,†she said. “The numbers are more stark; it drives home the severity of the issue.â€
Chuck McBride, founder and chief creative officer of Cutwater, said the issue of childhood hunger “isn’t cancer. It’s a completely rectifiable issue. The quantity of surplus food clearly outnumbers the number of hungry people. It’s logistics.â€
He said the “food angel†ads “take the rhetoric and flip it. Instead of saying ‘Here’s a problem and we can fix it,’ we say, ‘Here’s the solution and we can help.' â€
Maura Daly, chief communication and development officer at Feeding America, said the new campaign was aimed at “adults who care†and could make financial contributions or volunteer at a food bank.
