http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/video/2008/may/29/knifecrime
A £3m advertising campaign devised by teenagers to warn young people of the physical and emotional consequences of knife crime is to be launched today by the Home Office.
The campaign, which will run over the next three years, will feature national radio, website and mobile phone adverts as well as print and "viral ads" to be distributed via social networking sites such as Bebo and mobile phones.
The radio commercials feature teenagers talking about the emotional impact of a knife attack on their boyfriends and girlfriends while promotional postcards feature a thumbless hand, with the message: "If you carry a knife you're more likely to get stabbed yourself.
This idea to stop knife crime was a slightly obvious one, using shock tactics and showing graphic images of wounds on ads. The guardian ran a story in the run up to its launch and then the following year to report its failure as crime grew. What is unfortunate is that the campaign was devised by teenagers not people in power, so even ideas from within the target audience are falling on deaf ears/the converted.
One of those who took part, Khadijah Murchison, aged 18, from Bristol, said: "All the young people that went to the creative summit have been affected by knife crime, so to share our experiences and come up with ideas and adverts that will help reduce knife crime was great. Hopefully it will make a real difference."