Amid a stabbing ‘epidemic’ in London, a Home Office campaign aims to challenge perceptions that having knives is normal, and that carrying weapons makes young people safer
The Home Office has launched an advertising campaign that aims to turn people away from knife crime and pursue positive opportunities instead.
It comes as six people, five of them teenagers, were admitted to hospital in five separate knife attacks in London on Thursday (April 5) alone. The youngest was a 13-year-old boy.
By using real-life stories of young people who made the decision not to carry knives, the £1.35m #knifefree campaign – launched on 23 March before the most recent attacks happened – aims to inspire young people to pursue positive alternatives.
The news might all seem bad, but good things are happening too.
It uses advertising on Snapchat, Twitter and on digital channels (TV on demand and Spotify) to target 10 to 21-year-olds. Posters will also be displayed in English cities where knife crime is more prevalent.
The adverts feature real-life case studies who have turned their lives around after deciding to go knife-free. One boy featured, Sonny, was an aspiring professional football player when he was stabbed five times during a fight at a party. He was carrying a knife at the time.
“It hit me really hard. I have so much talent, something had to change,” an actor playing the part of Sonny says in the video. “When I came out of hospital, I decided to just focus on football. It was tough: I could hardly kick the ball, but I started recovering, became stronger, and now I’m on a path to achieve my dream.”
The caption reads: ‘#knifefree since 16/01/17.’
Research commissioned for the campaign found that real-life stories of young people talking about their experiences with knives were most likely to resonate with the target audience. The ads point young people to a website (www.knifefree.co.uk) which provides advice, signposts support services and highlights activities to ‘empower young people to change…
