New stretch target
More billboards, more online ads and we'll roll this out nationwide to every city in the UK.
We're running the most disruptive air pollution campaign the UK has ever seen that will change things for good. Help us go further.
by Humphrey Milles in London, England, United Kingdom
More billboards, more online ads and we'll roll this out nationwide to every city in the UK.
In May we successfully raised the funds to run the first wave of our People VS Air Pollution Campaign: addresspollution.org - the most disruptive air pollution campaign the UK has ever seen, and one that we're confident will change things for good.
Our new site to provide people with the fundamental human right of understanding how polluted the air is at their own address is now live, that includes a new air pollution rating system designed specifically for the property market. We have billboards now up all over London along with projections onto high profile property developments, animated ads, and even a music video.
All this has been done with the efforts of a group of people in the film, advertising and communications industry who feel air pollution and climate change needs to be addressed immediately. To help this campaign go even further we need your help. Please pledge and support this vital effort to put air pollution on the map permanently, and make it impossible for anyone to ignore any longer, and help drive the changes we all need for cleaner air.
WHAT'S THIS PROBLEM WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT?
Air Pollution is killing thousands each year. It's poisoning our kids, our parents, shortening our lives and costing the NHS more than £20billion a year in related health problems like strokes, diabetes, asthma, cancer and stunted lung development. It's been linked to birth defects, dementia, reduced cognitive function (lower intelligence!)... the list goes on and on, and it's not pretty. In many cases it's deadly.
The solutions to pollution are now abundant, but not being promoted, subsidised, made available or enforced by a central government that lacks the will for their implementation, and seeks instead to lay blame at the door of struggling local councils or individuals.
Despite the huge cost to the nations health, and diesel emissions being officially classified as a group 1 (same as cigarette smoke) cause of lung cancer by the World Health Organisation in 2012, there has still not been one single government funded national awareness campaign to warn people of the risks, or promote the solutions. This is shocking.
WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?
We're going to run the campaign instead, because this ongoing failure affects all of us.
We have a campaign strategy conceived by some very clever folk at the most awarded ad agency in London, who've also been working away on this for months, for nothing more than a very strong desire to fix this problem. We're going to push this issue out into the mainstream like never before, to bring about real change all over the country and put air pollution firmly on the map for good (until it's a thing of the past).
We just need your help & support to make this people-powered campaign happen, because despite us all working on this because we care about the issue, billboards and online ads cost money.
When government fails we have to act, so this is what we're going to do.
(The Guardian piece on our campaign - You can read the full article HERE )
WHAT WILL THIS ACHIEVE?
The data and evidence is clear: ad campaigns work. They affect behaviour, shift attitudes and can change cultural norms. Many of the government ads of old did just that, until the govt dept was shut down in 2011. We now more than ever have got to do something about this toxic problem thats poisoning our air, harming our children, warming our planet and polluting our atmosphere.
Awareness of this invisible killer and its severity is crucial for the changes necessary to reduce it, but remains low due to successive governmental failures and abdication of responsibility. We want to change that.
HOW WILL THE MONEY BE SPENT?
Every penny raised from this crowdfunder will go into the online ads, billboards, phone boxes, bus stops, leafleting, direct messaging and the web platform we're developing with air pollution experts at Kings College London to push the campaign message out to a wider audience, whilst informing and empowering the public with good accurate information on this toxic problem.
If we don't reach the target the campaign doesn't happen, so for the love of clean air please get behind us, pledge what you can and share this page.
WHAT IS COPI?
Central Office of Public Interest is a non-profit CIC (Community Interest Company) set up to produce and run ad campaigns based on accurate scientific data, for people & planet not profits. It's an ever growing alliance of creative professionals, scientists, film makers, musicians and ad creatives who all feel that this invisible toxic problem has become so bad, they cannot sit back and ignore it any longer.
WHO'S THE BLOKE IN THE FILM?
I've worked in the film and music industries for about 20 years, and on many of the government ads before the COI was closed down, like the one with the little girl whose arm fixes itself, the little girl scared about her mum smoking and those kids with big eyes driving on drugs. I set up Central Office of Public Interest in 2018 so that people in our industry could pool their skills, talent and know how to produce and run campaigns on issues they care about that affect them and the public directly. COPI is a way of harnessing the formidable power of advertising to shift awareness & society in a positive progressive direction, and help make things better for people rather than just selling them more stuff.
AND WHAT'S THIS FILM BELOW?
Its the first campaign we produced and ran last year with the help of some brilliant film makers, musicians and creatives. They all did this, because they too feel that enough is enough. Something has to be done. We produced this ad with no money, and its had around 200,000 views across all social media platforms.
This time, and with your help we're going bigger. Much much bigger.
I had a great chat with this lovely lady yesterday who's been campaigning tirelessly for transparency and action on this issue to prevent any more deaths. Her 9 year old little girl Ella died in 2013 from repeated respiratory issues that coincided with spikes in toxic air pollution. Incredible to hear from her about the number of hospital admissions every single day of kids being taken in with respiratory problems. This should not be happening.
Creative Review Article on Central Office of Public Interest, and the campaign we're running for you - full article HERE
We're in the Evening Standard CLICK HERE
Huge thanks to all who have pledged, supported, and helped with this so far, and especially www.siblingandrival.com who shot directed and put the brilliant crowdfunder film together for me.
Let's do this!
Humph.
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