Anti-knife crime ad focuses on lost dreams, not data about deaths

Recognizing the need to tackle knife crime in the borough, the council has worked closely with impacted families, the wider community, and the Metropolitan Police on a new campaign aimed at encouraging people to dream big and live knife-free.

It includes a powerful short film, developed by creative agency Nice and Serious. ‘Big Dreams’ follows a fictional local teenager with a promising future ahead of him and urges young people and adults to remember the value of life, in an effort to discourage them from carrying a knife.

“It was important for us to show that knife crime impacts more people than those directly involved. The friends, families and wider communities of the victims, as well as the offenders, are forced to live with the traumatic aftermath which can often have a lasting and devastating effect,” explains the film’s director, Serafima Serafimova.

“By showing our lead at multiple stages of his life, we could simultaneously have young people, their parents and older generations empathize with him. Our hope is that every viewer believes that this character could be their son, their daughter, brother or sister or partner, whose big dreams for life will never become a reality because of knife crime.”

The film is being accompanied by an outdoor and digital advertising campaign with a call to action to live #KnifeFree. All content will link to a campaign landing page with useful resources – from apprenticeships and careers advice, to information on how to hand in a knife and where to go to feel safe.