Sandy Hook Promise – The Teenage Dream is not what it used to be

School Shootings Are Preventable When You Know The Signs – Teenage Dream campaign by Sandy Hook Promise

#TheTeenageDream #SandyHookPromise #EndGunViolence #ProtectOurKids

A nonprofit organisation called Sandy Hook Promise works to stop gun violence and stop such school massacres from happening. The most school shootings on record occurred in 2021, but the pain these events leave behind persists even after the media headlines recede. The purpose of this campaign was to humanise the long-term harm that gun violence is inflicting on young people in America. Sandy Hook Promise wanted to draw attention to the psychological and physical toll that gun violence is having on a whole generation of young people because school shootings have transformed what it means to be a teenager in America today.

They collaborated with pop superstar Katy Perry and a courageous group of actual school shooting survivors to recreate Perry’s upbeat pop hit “Teenage Dream” in order to show how the reality of gun violence has ruined the joyful innocence of the teenage experience.

A series of heartbreaking online interviews with the featured survivors where they tell their stories and discuss their shattered youthful goals allowed viewers to discover more about them.

The project achieved the cultural breakthrough they were hoping, garnering 355 million overall impressions and 1 million video views in just 24 hours. Mark Ruffalo, Trevor Noah, Katie Couric, several US lawmakers, and Katy Perry herself were among the notable people who shared it. As a result of the campaign’s successful conversion to action, 92K individuals visited Sandyhookpromise.org, where they could get information on the symptoms that could indicate a potential school shooting. The most impressive part is that they extended SHP’s fan network while achieving this broad reach with no paid media expense.

Credits
Advertising Agency: BBDO New York, USA
Campaign: Teenage Dream
Client: Sandy Hook Promise