Around 3.2 million children go hungry in South Africa. In a country fighting a legacy of poverty, an underweight child dies every 15 seconds due to a lack of essential nutrients. To illustrate the plight of these children during World Hunger Month, KFC Add Hope in collaboration with Ogilvy & Mather Johannesburg created a TV-advertisement told by the drawings of some of the thousands of children the initiative feeds every day.
“When a child doesn’t get the right nutrients, malnutrition can manifest both mentally and physically,” explains professional dietician Abby Courtenay. “Classic examples would be a decrease in concentration, memory and fatigue as well as delayed or stunted development of muscle and bones.”
KFC Add Hope is a social responsibility initiative that feeds over 100 000 children every day. Around 250 children at one of Add Hope’s beneficiaries, Afrika Tikkun, drew 1 000 pictures that would form part of the initiatives advert.
The advert tells the story of an undernourished, sad and lonely little girl who is handed an Add Hope bowl. It draws attention to how the simple act of receiving regular, nutritious meals changes her life and the way she sees the world around her. With her tummy full, she passes an Add Hope bowl onto another young child, showing how regular meals and proper nutrition can change a child’s life.
KFC Africa’s Chief Marketing Officer, Mike Middleton, says the aim was to have these children tell their own story.
“We had no idea what the storyline would be, what the characters would look like, nor the landscapes. Everything would be dictated by what the children drew. At the same time, we had faith that there was no better way to illustrate it than for them to tell their own story – and it has been an incredibly inspiring and rewarding experience.”
The Add Hope TV advert aired on 6 October, it forms part of a social media campaign called ‘Pledge Your Plate’. The campaign calls on South Africans to post a picture of their empty plate to their social media platforms with the tag #PledgeYourPlate, to help raise awareness of the 11 million South Africans who are affected by hunger, each day.
