The African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust (ACLT): How many

AMV BBDO London and The African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust (ACLT) have created a new hard-hitting campaign entitled ‘Unite to Fight Leukaemia’, illustrating the shocking truth that the chances for finding a life-saving bone marrow donor are much worse for black and mixed race people, due to the tiny number of black and mixed race people on the register. The new print and radio ads break this summer and aim to encourage black, mixed race people and ethnic minorities to sign up to the national bone marrow register.
The objective for this project was to turn a charity advertising campaign into an emotionally charged fight against racial inequality. This is achieved by revealing that there are far fewer black and mixed race people on the bone marrow register compared to the numbers of white people, and by pointing out the obvious and devastating fact that this significantly reduces the chances of black and mixed race people surviving leukaemia, if they require a bone marrow transplant.
By informing the public about the urgency of the problem, the campaign empowers each individual to make a change for the better and to visit aclt.org to see how easy it is to register and potentially save a life.
The print advertising uses provocative headlines with strong racial undertones to draw attention to the issue and the longer copy informs people why this problem exists: There are 24 times as many white people than black and mixed race people on national bone marrow registers. It is very rare that matches are found across race and therefore, this means that black and mixed race people have a much smaller chance of finding a bone marrow donor, which is often their last hope in the fight against the disease.
The style of the art direction is inspired by black power protests and iconic Black Panther imagery. This aggressive imagery mirrors the fight that Orin Lewis and Beverley De-Gale (the founders of ACLT) have shown in their ongoing battle against the disease.
‘Unite to fight Leukaemia’ is used as a rallying cry to empower the reader and in turn galvanise the black and mixed race community.