Leo Burnett ‘Skip Ad’ campaign spotlights dilemma of former prisoners
Leo Burnett has designed an online campaign that links the prejudice faced by ex-offenders in the community with the ease people dismiss online content they do not wish to see.
A still from the campaign
The ad mimics a Youtube ad featuring an ex-offender speaking to camera, with the ‘Skip ad’ option appearing after the usual short interval. If clicked, the ad repeatedly restarts with an increasingly forlorn tone. If watched completely, the speaker’s confidence grows as he is given a hearing.
“With the subject of ex-offenders being such a contentious issue, we wanted to create a thought-provoking idea,” said Hugh Todd, creative at Leo Burnett.
“Something that would make people re-assess how they feel towards ex-offenders. Using and subverting the ‘skip ad’ button gave us the perfect opportunity to do this.”
Explains Edwina Hughes, Reducing Re-offending Campaign Manager for BITC said the film “cleverly and emotively underlines the experience someone with a criminal conviction may have when they seek to put their offending behind them and get a job.”
The ad is part of a campaign to eliminate the mandatory checkbox for criminal convictions in job application forms in the UK.
The ad can be viewed here.