Charity Emergency Reflects on Painful Consequences of War Through Experienced Eyes

Just like every year, Emergency is back with Ogilvy with a wish for the new year, with an entire operation dedicated to a very relevant topic: the necessity to abolish war, wherever it may be. 

The message ‘Let’s make 2022 a year of peace, not war’ took life with a video distributed on the brand’s social media on a global level, and an outdoor campaign that was aired on 100 out of home spaces covering all underground stations in Milan, and had the victims of war and their experiences as protagonists. 

The video narrates the tough choice of a mother, in a country hit by war. The story starts just like any other day, with the girl getting ready to go to school, but ends with an unexpected finale: a painful separation, just like the ones that many people around the world are forced to experience everyday. 

Meanwhile, the out of home campaign stars the portraits of war victims by Giles Duley and Sibomana, with their wishes for a future without war, with messages like “Peace is not only the end of war, it’s the beginning of life”, “Only in a wrong world someone can say a war is right” “The opposite of war is not peace, it’s life” “War makes prisoners, peace makes free people”.

In fact, 82.4 million people worldwide had to leave their homes, families and lives, due to persecution, war, violence, or human rights violations.

Here’s why Emergency’s wish for 2022 is for a year without war, because quoting Gino Strada, the founder of Emergency, “War should be considered as a problem to solve, not as our destiny”.

“We are proud to air this campaign for Emergency every year - says Giuseppe Mastromatteo, chief creative officer – because it’s an honour for us to tell such universal, relevant and human stories, but most of all to support Emergency, its actions, and the immortal legacy of Gino Strada.”