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Brand Story We Love: No Child For Sale

So, yeah. This one sneaks up on you, and that’s one of the many reasons why it works.

The ad starts off like a love story:
It’s a love story between a kid and her blanket. Between parents and their child. And through it all, the blanket is there, on adventures and being dragged through the mud, acting as the roof of a fort, and the last thing she remembers at night.

The first time it was on:
I could feel my heart getting bigger and the special smirk I reserve for commercials was trying to fall off of my face. When Blankey is swirling in a washing machine, the little girl holds vigil nearby, and I thought: Aha! It’s for a fabric softener. Nothing to see here brain, avert eyes and move along.

But I kept watching:
Dad puts his hand against the hand of his precious daughter. The camera stays on the blanket, and then pulls back to reveal a child, just slightly older than the kid in the ad working in a sweat shop, making blankets exactly like the one we’ve just fallen in love with.

Why we love it:

  • This is a powerful response to the appalling argument that suggests child labour is good because it helps emerging economies and struggling families. It reminds us that slavery is bloody awful for children and asks us to ask ourselves why it is that this child’s life worth less than that of a comfortable white girl’s born into relative affluence?
  • The filmmakers did a great job of emoti-scaping the ad, expertly using music, cinematography and a powerful, simple story that lead up to the job dropping reveal.
  • See it once and it will stay with you.
  • It gives you an opportunity to help.

Now’s your chance:
Sign the petition here.

Susan McLennan

Susan McLennan

Founder at ReImaginePR
Susan McLennan helps brands become better storytellers both through the media and through direct and digital communications. She is an award-winning communicator with a background in television production who has secured media coverage through some of the top media outlets in the world and created content that has won hearts and changed minds locally, nationally and internationally.
Susan McLennan

@SusanMcLennan