The Pandemic's Impact on Children Causes Cracks in Powerful Barnardos Ireland Spot

This week Barnardos, Ireland’s leading children’s charity, launched a film campaign aimed at driving donations by showcasing the impact of the extended Covid-19 lockdown on Irish families.

Following a challenging year of home-schooling, job losses and isolation, Barnardos wanted to create a campaign that highlights how vulnerable children and their families have been negatively affected by the events of the past year.

The campaign, called ‘Cracks’, brings to life the impact of sustained lockdowns on vulnerable children. There has been a non-stop stream of emergency appeal campaigns during lockdown, so the approach for this campaign was to stand out by visualising the feeling that everything is cracking and the effect that has on the mental health of the family unit as a whole.

Barnardos director of fundraising Mary Gamble said: “This campaign shows that some families are at breaking point due to the prolonged impact of the pandemic. Barnardos is here to help families across Ireland who are struggling to cope, but to do so we need support from the public.”

Dillon McKenna, creative director, The Public House, added: “The lockdowns we’ve just gone through have brought us together, in a way. We wanted to capture that sense of empathy in this film. If I’ve been affected by these lockdowns, how have children in more vulnerable families coped? We were very lucky to have Pixel Melbourne on board as it was shot during our lockdown, when Australia was clear to work. We were kindly given permission to use one of our favourite tracks, ‘The Front’ by Conor Walsh as a score.”

The Public House worked closely with Pixel, Melbourne to create a stunning piece of film that highlights the struggles of the pandemic through the use of cracks appearing. The film was shot on a Phantom Camera, with director John Gavin going as far as laser cutting a kitchen table and crockery to achieve an in-camera look.

The campaign launched earlier this month with radio and OOH.

The Public House’s philosophy is that in the age of inattention, the most dangerous thing any client can do is play it safe. Their belief is that ‘boring doesn’t sell’ and that is the foundation for impactful work for clients that includes EPIC: The Irish Emigration Museum, FBD Insurance, Paddy Power and Redbreast Irish Whiskey.