Knife Free Chicken Boxes/Home Office:
Knife Free Chicken Boxes/Home Office:
How our viral public stunt forced the Home Office to rethink their approach to youth violence reduction
We spontaneously pulled off one of the most imaginative counter-campaign PR pieces of 2019 with our unconventional Flash Mob Research in East London.
Within just two hours, we had amassed over 150 hand-written responses to the question, ‘how would you tackle serious youth violence in London?’, scribbled inside locally sourced Chicken boxes…
The Dilemma
When massive institutions such as the Home Office attempt to tackle long standing issues such as Knife Crime, it always has the potential to miss the mark.
Unfortunately, this is exactly what happened in 2019, when the Home Office spent £57,000 rolling out their ‘Knife Free’ chicken boxes campaign.
They put their money where their mouth is, as chicken boxes became the host to personal testimonies from young people who had chosen to stop carrying knives, in an attempt to inspire other at risk young Londoners to do the same.
Nothing surprised us about what happened next.
There was a national backlash, because it was deemed a disingenuous and racially inflammatory attempt to connect with black and minority ethnic kids in the capital. So we decided to do what we’ve become better than anyone else at doing. Getting insight on the ground, amongst people who are living and breathing the issues at hand.
The Disruption
Our Chicken suit donning, chicken box carrying Flash mob execution encouraged 100s of Londoners to feedback on various methods to challenge the youth violence issue. Unsurprisingly, not one single person said to make knife-free chicken boxes. Our work also led to a media frenzy, with the likes of BBC, ITV, LadBible, Russia Today and VICE all covering the campaign.
The Delivery
The #KnifeFree chicken boxes were recalled & the campaign was cut.
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Our chicken box responses were accepted into the Home Office
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We began consulting the Violence Reduction Unit’s on methods of youth engagement
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We inspired the recalling of the whole campaign