Kids’ Cancer Project campaign underlines double meaning of “I don’t want to be an angel”

The Kids’ Cancer Project in Australia has launched a new campaign featuring children who seem to be disobedient and who “don’t want to be an angel.” The campaign was created by Saatchi & Saatchi and highlights the urgent need to find better ways of treating the disease, in time for Childhood Cancer Awareness Month this month.

The campaign also features print ads showing a child’s hand in what most would consider rude hand gestures whilst also displaying their intravenous cannulas.

The video spot gives an honest view of the difficulties of parenting especially with children who are sick with cancer. The ad throws your expectations out the window. Understandably, the children in the ad refuse to go for their treatments. The words of the last child, who shouts at his mother whilst refusing to go to sleep can break any mother’s heart. “You need rest,” the mother says in the gentlest voice; “but I might not wake up,” the son whispers.

By the end, “I don’t want to be an angel” takes on a whole different meaning.

The Kids’ Cancer Project CEO, Owen Finegan, said: “Facing this disease takes strength and courage, but overcoming it requires constant scientific advancement. Our job is to fund and enable scientists to discover the best research to give these kids better chances of survival and improved long-term outcomes.”

Kids Cancer Project Print AdsLinda Fagan, Head of Marketing and Community Relations at the Project, added: “We needed a campaign that could shake-up the apparent apathy around backing science as the solution to childhood cancer, while also showing the strength it takes to live with this disease. We need people to realise that new research brings new hope for these kids.”

“Sick children are children. They do not want to go to the hospital, suffer nausea, or live with fear. They may have no choice but to undergo unpleasant treatment, but they certainly do not want to be angels. This idea is about keeping that defiant spirit alive,” said Saatchi & Saatchi Executive Creative Director, Rebecca Carrasco.

The campaign is set to run across television, print, digital and social.

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