UNICEF says children have the right to a childhood

Who: UNICEF Canada, Juniper Park\TBWA and Tam-Tam\TBWA for creative, PHD for media, with Radke Films, School Editing, Fort York and Vapor Music the production partners.

What: A new brand campaign for the Canadian arm of global children’s champion UNICEF, using the tagline “The Right to a Childhood.”

When & Where: The campaign launched Friday, with creative running on TV, out-of-home, social and online video through the end of the year.

Why: The campaign coincides with the upcoming 30th anniversary of The Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Convention, introduced in 1989 as a framework for basic rights for children around the world, includes five core pillars: the right to safe water, education, nutrition, heath and protection. It’s the basis for Greta Thunberg’s recent formal complaint to the U.N. and has been signed by 196 countries around the world—although not the U.S.

How: “The Right to a Childhood” reminds viewers that children around the world deserve—and demand—the Convention’s basic protections, but they also deserve the things that make a happy childhood. So while children have a right to water, the campaign argues they also have the right to run through water sprinklers.

“Our hope is that the campaign brings back your favourite childhood memories, the moments we all might have taken for granted, and the luxuries that went unnoticed to us as children,” said Jenny Glover, executive creative director at Juniper Park\TBWA in a release. “We hope this campaign opens your eyes to the drastically different reality that so many kids around the world face every day.”

And we quote: “We want to remind Canadians about the joys of a carefree childhood and inspire them to help UNICEF give every child the chance to reach their potential no matter where they are growing up.” —Rowena Pinto, chief program officer at UNICEF Canada.

David Brown