2022 ENTRY:
THE BRIEF:
Els for Autism is an NGO which assists parents with kids with Autism by teaching them how to understand what their child is experiencing and coping mechanisms to ensure the childs growth. Our brief was to create an ad to promote this service that they offer and to destigmatize Autism in South Africa.
INSIGHT:
In South Africa, some families hide their autistic children at home because they are
embarrassed and feel ashamed. There is a stigma around ASD that causes parents to
disconnect from their autistic children. We used a popular children’s game to highlight this
problem and to create awareness of the free parent coaching programs offered by Els for
Autism, South Africa to help parents overcome the stigma around ASD.
Our advert is titled: "Hide and No Seek"
2023 ENTRY:
THE BRIEF:
SADAG (South African Depression and Anxiety Group) is concerned by the influx of calls we are receiving from younger children (as young as 9 years old) who are wanting to end their lives.
Create a film for SADAG to prepare young people better to talk about mental health and suicide openly and without shame.
ADVERT 1:
Music has an unspeakable power to make you feel a range of emotions, stimulating different thoughts, feelings, and ideas.
However, if we start dissecting the lyrical content of some of these songs they listen to,
we can easily pick up cries for help from these artists that clearly show they’ve been suffering
from mental illness and having suicidal thoughts - some artists even taking their own lives.
Using AI technology, we’ve brought back to life the famous and popular artist among teenagers, Juice WRLD, who took his own life in 2019. We’ve done this by identifying one of the released songs that had lyrics alluding to him wanting to commit suicide and changing them using the latest voice synthesizing technology to rather spread messages of hope and getting help before it's too late.
Our advert is titled: "Voice from the Dead"
ADVERT 2:
South Africa has 11 official languages yet only English and Afrikaans have words that describe mental disorders and suicide. It can therefore be hard for non-English and non-Afrikaans-speaking children to start talking about mental health and suicide when there are no words in their languages that begin to describe these issues.
Our idea is based on demonstrating how language can sometimes be a barrier to talking about mental health and suicide when there aren't any words to describe it - especially for teens.
Performed in isiXhosa, this short film follows two best friends. Noticing her friend's mood and behavioural change lately, one of the friends checks in with the other, asking if everything is alright. The friend clearly has a lot on her mind but she just can’t find the words to express the turmoil
in her head.
Our advert is titled: "No Words"
