• by Les Luchter , June 26, 2024

Two years ago, the Centers for Disease Control reported that guns had become the leading cause of kids’ deaths in the U.S., and on Tuesday, the U.S. Surgeon General declared firearm violence as a public health crisis for the first time.

Among numerous prevention strategies included in the Surgeon General’s 39-page advisory: “Safe and secure firearm storage.”

The Ad Council, which has been on top of the gun-safety issue for the past six years, today expands its “End Family Fire” campaign to one of the fastest-growing gun owner groups: Hispanic Americans.

“Da El Siguiente Paso'' (“Take the Next Step”), the first national campaign targeting Hispanic parents to store firearms safely, comes from the Council in partnership with the nonprofit Brady: United Against Gun Violence.

The campaign features two spots, one in Spanish and one in English, created by pro bono agency Casanova//McCann and designed to run on broadcast TV, social and digital. TelevisaUnivision in particular is donating inventory across all three media.

Each PSA features a real Hispanic gun-owning father sharing how he currently stores his personal firearms, reading a heartfelt letter from parents whose children were killed in gun-related tragedies, and thus reconsidering his gun-storage habits.

The Spanish-language spot directs viewers to a new website, DaElSiguientePaso.org,while the English-language spot sends them to EndFamilyFire.org, part of the “End Family Fire” campaign, which the Ad Council and Brady, then known as the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, first launched in 2018.

To date, End Family Fire has garnered over $120 million in donated media and over 5.2 billion impressions, the Ad Council says, The Council also cites a recent study showing that 42% of respondents with a child in the home who were aware of the End Family Fire campaign had reported seeking information on safe gun storage in the past 12 months, compared to just 10% of those who were unaware.

The effectiveness of gun safety advertising was also confirmed recently by Northwell Health, which reported that its two-year-old “Doesn't Kill to Ask” campaign has succeeded in increasing the number of people likely to ask about unlocked guns.

The Surgeon General’s office released a number of graphics to spread the word about firearm violence, including one showing that 56% of unintentional firearm deaths among children and adolescents happen in their own homes, with 74% of the guns used loaded and 76% unlocked.

Hispanic youth are affected disproportionately from gun violence, the Surgeon General’s advisory pointed out, being seven times more likely to experience a firearm homicide during the previous year than white youth, and on average experiencing such incidents closer to home.

Brady and the Ad Council cited statistics showing that the number of Hispanic adults who own firearms has doubled since 2017, that Hispanics accounted for 19% new gun owners between 2019 and 2021, and that over a quarter of Hispanics now own a firearm.

“A national Spanish campaign is vital in eliminating barriers faced by Spanish speakers in accessing safe firearm storage education,” Brady President Kris Brown said in a statement announcing the new campaign.

“We were floored by the lack of information available for Hispanic gun owners,” added Ingrid Smart, president/CEO, Casanova//McCann.

In addition to the two :60 video spots linked above, the campaign also includes :30 versions, social ads and banners at launch, with print and radio ads on the way. The audio spots will be produced by SiriusXM Media’s Studio Resonate and supported by donated inventory from SiriusXM.

The Ad Council in February also kicked off a $40 million gun violence prevention initiativein partnership with a coalition of health systems and hospitals, including Northwell.