New work from No Fixed Address

No Fixed Address shared their recent chilling campaign for the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, The Horse, a must watch for all of us.

With the rise of predators targeting children through social platforms, the Canadian Centre for Child Protection (C3P) has issued ‘The Horse,’ a PSA warning parents about the unfettered access that smart devices can provide to their kids. As part of C3P’s mission to protect children online from sexual violence, the warning calls for governments around the globe to enact legislative change.

The Horse is a powerful wake-up call, shedding light on the dark and pervasive threats that can harm children through their digital devices, and these threats continue to grow. Over the past five years, reports of online sexual luring of children to Cybertip.ca, Canada's national tipline for reporting online child sexual violence, have increased by 815%.²

“We’re handing kids technology that is being weaponized against them by predators, and there are no laws in place to keep them safe the same way we protect kids offline. We need all Canadians – especially parents – calling on the government to regulate the platforms that are letting offenders right into our children’s bedrooms.”says Lianna McDonald, Executive Director of C3P. 

The entire 60-second spot is filmed in one continuous shot down a hallway, set in a home that could be yours or mine. The world built by acclaimed and award-winning Canadian director Meredith Hama-Brown is warm and loving, with a deeply unsettling undertone – a reminder that phones have opened everyone’s door to online dangers. Brown recently was awarded the  Fipresci Prize at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) for her film Seagrass and overall film craftsmanship.

“We set out to capture the scenario that keeps every parent up at night. And The Horse is a chilling reminder that it’s real and it’s happening.” says Alexis Bronstorph, Chief Creative Officer at No Fixed Address.

With the release of The Horse, C3P kicks off a campaign to mobilize parents to demand legislative change by educating them on the true dangers lurking in their children's phones. Poignant media placements in movie theatres, major dailies and online platforms drive parents to take a short survey and get governments across the world to step up and act now. The initiative is backed by several of C3P’s global partners including 5Rights Foundation, Fairplay, ECPAT Sweden, Suojellaan Lapsi, Innocence in Danger Germany and The Marie Collins Foundation.

Concerned citizens are encouraged to spread the awareness by viewing and sharing the PSA at protectchildren.ca/TheHorse, and make a difference by taking a short survey on what they think should be done to protect children online.

1) WeProtect. (2021). Estimates of childhood exposure to online sexual harms and their risk factors: A global study of childhood experiences of 18 to 20 year olds. https://www.weprotect.org/wp-content/uploads/Estimates-of-childhood-exposure-to-online-sexual-harms-and-their-risk-factors-.pdf
2) Canadian Centre for Child Protection. (2022). Reports of online sexual luring of Canadian kids up 815% in five years, Cybertip.ca data shows. https://protectchildren.ca/en/press-and-media/news-releases/2023/safer-internet-day-2023

About the Canadian Centre for Child Protection: The Canadian Centre for Child Protection (C3P) is a national charity dedicated to the personal safety of all children. The organization’s goal is to reduce the sexual abuse and exploitation of children through programs, services, and resources for Canadian families, educators, child-serving organizations, law enforcement, and other parties. C3P also operates Cybertip.ca, Canada’s national tipline to report child sexual abuse and exploitation on the internet, and Project Arachnid, a web platform designed to detect known images of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on the clear and dark web and issue removal notices to industry.

About No Fixed Address: No Fixed Address is a fully-integrated, independent advertising agency designed to help ambitious brands get to the future faster. With offices in Toronto, Montréal, New York, Chicago and San Francisco, the agency's "no fixed" model provides brands with seamless access to strategy, creativity, content, media, analytics and beyond. Founded in 2016 under the belief that clients deserve solutions, not silos, No Fixed Address is part of the NFA, Inc. "Grid" of independent agencies that also includes Mischief, Courage, NFA Health and Ethnicity Matters. For more information, visit us at No Fixed Address.

Credits
Agency: No Fixed Address Inc.
Chief Creative Officers: Alexis Bronstorph, Kelsey Horne
Sr. Copywriter: Allegra Wiesenfeld
Sr. Art Director: Reid Plaxton
Account Director: Abby Tile
VP Broadcast Production: Cherie O’Connor
Agency Producer: Spencer J. Houghton

Production Services Provider: Animals TV
Director: Meredith Hama-Brown
Director of Photography: Norm Li
Production Designer: Zosia Mackenzie
Executive Producers: Chris Hutsul, Miriana DiQuinzio
Head of Production - Liam Benstead
Sr. Producer: Gillian Marr

Offline Editorial: Saints Editorial
Editor: Ross Birchall
Assistant Editor: Phoebe Lorimer
Executive Producer: Tory Osler

Transfer/Online House: Darling VFX
Colourist: Patrick Samaniego
Colour Assistant: Eric Kingsbury
Online Artist: Alyssa Schmidt
Executive Producer: Morgan Campbell
Producer: Will Culverwell

Audio: Berkeley Inc.
EP: Tyna Maerzke
Creative Director: Jared Kuemper
Song: Chukhung by Biosphere

No Fixed Address delivered! This campaign is an alarming wake up call for all of us at home and abroad, let's work together to help protect our children.