Why Is the Ad Council Surprising People with Skeletons in their New Campaign?

Beneath the skin, we’re all the same. Strip away race, ethnicity, gender, religion, ability, appearance or sexuality we’re all just humans. We all know this really, but nevertheless most of us – consciously or unconsciously – make a lot of assumptions about people. And if that’s true in day-to-day interactions, it’s one hundred times worse in the world of advertising where stereotypes provide handy shortcuts.

That’s why the Ad Council has released this pleasantly surprising new campaign ‘Love Has No Labels’. The film, shot on Valentine's Day 2015, sees sets of skeletons play, hug and kiss on a big screen – only to shock the assembled crowd when the ‘skeletons’ reveal themselves. 

The film then leads viewers off to a site with more information about bias, and which is supported by brands like Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Unilever and P&G.

This campaign is inspired by the Ad Council’s wider mission to create positive social change (fascinating fact, the term ‘public service advertising’ was coined by the Ad Council in 1942). And part of that is to acknowledge and correct the occasionally negative impact that advertising can have with the problematic way it can portray certain groups and reinforce unhelpful stereotypes.