The Campaign

Innocent children are the most frequent victims of dengue. But the most moving situation was when a 8-month old child died recently in the mother’s womb, when the mother developed dengue hemorrhage. So we brought to life an appeal against dengue through the story of an unborn child who had died of it. We put the responsibility of her death on those who by neglect prevent dengue mosquitoes breed in water that gets collected in their homes and gardens, thereby allow the spread of this deadly infection. So it’s just not the mosquito borne disease that has really killed this innocent child, but by helping the mosquito breed in your home or garden, even you have become an accomplice to this death.

Creative Execution

The unexpected message was delivered through the voice of a child, to gain more empathy and amplify the helplessness of the innocent struck by the disease. By using a female voice, we made the appeal even more poignant and emotional. The no frills spot that didn’t use gimmicky sound effects or soulful music drove home the point that this is a real life cause, which is still ongoing.

The shocking radio commercial gained immediate public awareness and the National Telecom Service provider Mobitel, who promoted the message, received much praise for this dengue awareness endeavor. While this project is still ongoing, since the dengue epidemic is reaching alarming proportions as mentioned above, even the President of Sri Lanka has now issued a directive to combat the eradication of dengue breeding waters getting collected in public and private places all over the island

Dengue has become a national disaster in Sri Lanka with recent statics showing 63,987 people infected by this mosquito borne disease in 2017 alone and 200 deaths reported within the past 6 months. Therefore we used the most widely reaching yet cost-effective medium – radio – to communicate a striking message. By using the radio medium we engaged the theatre of the mind to involve the listener and also kept the suspense going till we delivered the unexpected twist at the end of the spot.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

Since there is no medicine to cure dengue, prevention of the spread of disease by actually preventing the breeding of the mosquito is the best form to combat the disease. So we brought to life an appeal against dengue based on an actual situation where an unborn child died when the pregnant mother developed dengue hemorrhaging. We put the responsibility of this child’s death on those who by neglect prevent dengue mosquitoes breed in water that gets collected in their homes and gardens, thereby allow the spread of this deadly infection. So it’s just not the mosquito borne disease that has really killed an innocent child like this, but by helping the mosquito breed in your home or garden, even you have become an accomplice to this death.