Heinz is launching a new campaign to show how hard it can be for children to focus when they go to school hungry.
It is part of a five-year partnership between Heinz and children's charity Magic Breakfast,
Magic Breakfast work with more than 1,000 partner schools in disadvantaged areas of the UK to provide nutritious breakfast food, such as Heinz No Added Sugar Beanz, to children at risk of hunger.
Pre-pandemic it was estimated that 1.7 million children in the UK were living with food insecurity and this number is expected to have grown post-pandemic and been further exacerbated by the growing cost of living being felt by families.
The campaign will feature interactive billboards designed by Ocean Labs in busy locations across the UK including Westfield London and Westfield Stratford City, The Printworks in Manchester and Media Eyes in Birmingham. The locations chosen all have over 30 per cent of children living in poverty.
Full list of billboard locations:
- Birmingham Media Eyes South East
- Birmingham Media Eyes South
- Four Dials, Westfield Stratford
- The Screen, Trinity Leeds
- Eat Street, Westfield London
- Northern Ticket Hall, Westfield Stratford City
- The Screen, Printworks, Manchester
- The Screen, Monument, Newcastle
- The Totem, West Quay (Inbound), Southampton
Bringing to life the daily challenges faced by children who go to school hungry, Ocean’s state-of-the- art LookOut technology will provide an interactive experience showing the severity of the issue being felt by children up and down the UK.
As passers-by approach one of the nine billboards, they will be able to clearly read the sentence ‘This is how hard it is for kids to focus when they’re hungry’ but the longer they stare, the sentence will become difficult to read and float away from their gaze. Once they have texted to donate, the billboard will become legible again.
As Lucy Cooke, Brand Manager at Heinz Beanz said: “It’s more important now than ever before that we continue our fight against child hunger with our brilliant partners Magic Breakfast. As families up and down the country face increasing financial pressure, we hope that our immersive campaign will raise further awareness of the issue of child hunger and encourage widespread donations to a vital cause.
At Heinz, we strongly believe that no child should be too hungry to learn, that’s why we’ve already pledged more than 16 million meals to Magic Breakfast to help those at risk of going to school hungry. By donating through these billboards, you will be contributing toward helping some of the most disadvantaged children in the UK, helping to ensure these pupils can start their day with the energy and nutrition they need to make the most of their morning lessons!”
Also commenting on the campaign, Lindsey Macdonald, CEO Magic Breakfast said: “We’re so excited to be working with Heinz on this interactive campaign. There’s still a lot to be done to raise awareness of the scale and impact of child hunger in this country, especially the effect hunger can have on a child’s learning which has long-term consequences on that child’s life. Magic Breakfast supports children living nearby to all nine of the billboards’ locations so this is a fantastic opportunity to raise awareness of the issue in those communities.”
To donate £5 to Magic Breakfast please text ‘Beanz’ to 70450 and Heinz will match your donation.
For further information on the partnership please visit: www.heinz.co.uk/beanzmeanzmore
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