The 'Consider Us' campaign has been conceived and developed by ZOOM Advertising, part of the Ogilvy group. Creative Director, Deon Robbertze urges everyone to tell everyone about the campaign. “It’s high time the children had a say in their future. I defy the world leaders not to listen to them!”
A TV; radio; and print campaign will advertise 'Consider Us': a ‘guerilla’ campaign masterminded by Heart (the social enterprise hub that incubates new social enterprises) includes a chalking project, whereby messages are chalked up in the communities and a greening/planting project. Two dedicated websites are now live for the posting of messages. A social media campaign using free Mxit and website banner advertising makes up a full digital media campaign to support 'Consider Us'.
Children don’t mince their words and hundreds of thousands of South African children will tell world leaders what they want them to do about the planet. The kids’ main message is: 'Consider Us' … so that the world they live in will be habitable in years to come.
Children between six and 18 are being asked to explain, in 20 words, why world leaders should consider them when signing their climate change treaties. What is precious about our world? Why is it worth saving? These messages then appear, in real time, on a dedicated website, serving as a voice of the generation with the most to lose. A voice that grows louder every day as the virus spreads and the messages roll in.
When 13 year-old Kiyan van Rensburg says: “We will make our ancestors proud. We will follow your example,” the pressure is on to set a suitable example. And young Alexander Dickie makes a valid point when he asks: “If the earth doesn’t survive, who will?”
Adding his voice to the 'Consider Us' groundswell is South Africa rock star, Arno Carstens. The singer-songwriter and former front man of 'Springbok Nude Girls' has offered a single off his soon-to-be-released album as the soundtrack to the campaign. Titled 'Emergency', he will perform this haunting song together with the award-winning Tygerberg Children’s Choir at a CTICC gala dinner on Thursday, 22 October. The performance officially launches the 'Consider Us' global campaign and commemorates the historic United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) Global Roundtable when hundreds of the world’s top money men and investors come to Cape Town to plan a new and green economy.
When Arno and the children sing: 'How long … too long … right now … this is an emergency,' delegates in the auditorium may find it hard to ignore the plea.
During Cape Town Green Week (19 to 23 October), some of the messages will be strung-up on washing lines inside the Cape Town International Convention Centre so that delegates from all over the world who are attending a series of events can read them. There will be giant screens inside the CTICC showing messages as they are posted live on the 'Consider Us' website,
www.considerus.org or
www.considerus.mobi.
A selection of the most hard-hitting, heart-rending messages will be collated in a book and delivered to heads of state at the Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen in December. These world leaders will be asked to sign the book, which will constitute, effectively, a signed oath to heed the demands of children all over the world.
Once signed, the book will travel back to Cape Town, South Africa, where it will be buried in a time capsule at a UN heritage site, to be opened twenty years from now.
The children’s 'Consider Us' campaign begins in Africa and spearheads a global movement. A groundswell of emotion, passion and genuine pleas is set to touch even the hardest hearts and, in its honesty and innocence, will challenge world leaders to listen to what the world’s children are telling them. Most of the business leaders, environmentalists and heads of state – those who decide the world’s future when they thrash out a framework for the war on climate change – are middle aged. This is one of the biggest challenges facing the issue because, while it’s commendable having the vision and urgency to act now, most of the people involved in this global rescue plan won’t be around to see whether it works or not. Their children will be around though, so if anyone should have a say in what the world will look like in a few years’ time, it should be them.
There seems to be a genuine belief that Copenhagen can succeed where its predecessor, Kyoto, fell short.
Parents; teachers; and children are being encouraged to participate in the campaign so that these messages can be delivered to the world’s top money men in Cape Town next week so that they may take those messages on to Copenhagen. If the finance world invests more responsibly, we can live in a better world.