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Non-profit organization Anaphylaxis Canada has launched its first-ever public service announcement campaign, a multimedia initiative directed at teens with food allergies.
The campaign, which launched Thursday, includes television, print, transit shelter and online advertisements developed pro bono by Toronto agency Zulu Alpha Kilo.
The television spot shows a teenage boy and girl beside each other on a couch, inching toward each other for what a narrator explains is their first kiss. As the nervous pair gets closer together, it’s explained that while the girl is concerned about whether to make the first move or close her eyes, the boy is worried about whether the girl has eaten peanut butter, to which he is allergic.
Beatrice Povolo, director of marketing communications for Anaphylaxis Canada, said it was important for the PSA to appeal to teens, the group she said was most at risk of severe food allergy reactions.
“That age is a time of challenges and figuring out their way in the world, and unfortunately [teens] aren’t as vigilant when it comes to a lot of things in life,” including food allergies, Povolo said. “When they’re younger, they’ve got their parents and their teachers and it’s a much more protective environment in terms of always having an adult watching out for them.
“We felt this was a great conversation-starter for pre-teens and existing teens.”
Zak Mroueh, president and creative director at Zulu Alpha Kilo, said members of his own family who have food allergies felt the campaign creative accurately reflected their experience.
“As kids get older, there’s all these other ways they can be exposed to different food allergies, so it’s definitely a true insight,” Mroueh said of the television spot.
The campaign also includes several print executions, one of which shows a birthday cake with icing that reads, “May contain feelings of being excluded.”
The campaign launched today and will run primarily in Toronto and Vancouver. Media Experts handled media placement, with Untitled Films producing the television spot and Asylum Artists handling the print ad photographs.
