The Brief

The Arts & Crafts Industry of India has some of the finest handicrafts in the world. However it hides an ugly truth. 60 million enslaved children. Forced to work 18 hrs a day, 7 days a week. Although there are laws against this they are not enforced by the government. Our task was 2 fold. Wake the ministers up from their slumber and get them to actively enforce the laws against child labour. And raise awareness among the consumers.

Creative Execution

We used the handicrafts themselves to show the toil and suffering of innocent children. Thus driving home the message that handicrafts that look so beautiful, could also hide an ugly truth. Thus raising awareness through the very products themselves.

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective.

We put together a team of skilled artisans from across various arts & crafts industries and redesigned the lead products of the industry. In this case, hand embroidered silk cushions. In these we embroidered suffering children in the design, thus exposing the ugly truth through the handicrafts themselves. These were hand delivered by rescued children to key members of parliament and influential bollywood celebrities. All who received the mailer not only joined the petition but actively got involved in the movement.

Results

All ministers who received the mailer not only joined the petition but also raised the issue in the halls of democracy. Mr. Mangat Ram Singal, Labour Minister of Delhi has also sworn his support to the cause. With government support the rescue operations have stepped up. Last month alone 1431 children have been rescued and reunited with their families. All celebrities who received the mailer twittered about the movement urging their followers to join and gave soundbytes which were turned into television commercials. 42,943 petitoners and still counting. All this without mainstream media.