• by Les Luchter , August 11, 2024

“Not everyone is that lucky” reads copy evoking last month’s assassination attempt on Donald Trump that’s placed aside images of children with bandages on their ears.

The ads are designed to get readers to visit the website of gun-violence-prevention nonprofit Artist for Action (AFA), where they can find out how to volunteer, donate and vote.

But Matthew Reich, co-founder of the artist-driven coalition, stresses to Marketing Daily that the nonprofit remains nonpolitical.

“This campaign is intended to be way more unifying than political, as it highlights the fact that no one is immune to gun violence,” he says. “Whether you're a child in a classroom, an adult in a workplace or a President of the United States speaking at a campaign event, gun violence somehow affects us all.”

“This should not be the case,” Reich continues. “Research shows that gun violence is preventable and we cannot stop speaking louder and louder, in creative ways, until this epidemic is over.”

In this case, the creative comes from IPG Health’s Neon agency, and is running on all AFA social media channels, plus channels from AFA partnering organizations, ambassadors, musicians and influencers. The impressive roster includes Billie Eilish, Sheryl Crow, Peter Gabriel, Bootsy Collins, Kevin Bacon and many others.

AFA points out that every day 12 children die from gun violence in America and another 32 are shot and injured.

Hence, the campaign uses four images to represent the various ages and backgrounds of those young victims.

The foursome were generated by AI -- for both speed and cost reasons, according to Jesse Kates, Neon managing director/creative lead.“For us to make the greatest impact with the idea, we knew we needed to get it out as soon as possible,” he says. “Considering the quality we are able to achieve with AI at this point and the unprecedented speed we are able to achieve with it, it was a no-brainer to go this way.”

The campaign launched Aug. 5th, and will continue being amplified, “as long as it remains impactful,” says Kates.