VML and Child Focus commemorate the White March

On 20 October 1996, more than 300,000 people took to the streets of Brussels for the White March. Thirty years on, Child Focus and VML look back on that protest and on the promise it produced: to protect children better. With a new campaign, VML carries the spirit of the White March into the present, at a time when much of that protection happens online.

The campaign visual shows countless small white hands that together form a digital White March. Each hand stands for someone who shares a Child Focus missing child alert online or reports images of child sexual abuse.

“Thirty years ago, our society made a promise. That promise is just as relevant today. Children now grow up in a world that is both physical and digital, facing risks like grooming and sextortion that nobody had in mind in 1996. Keeping them safe is still a task for all of us.” Tom Moons, Communications Director at Child Focus.

The campaign runs as a print ad in De Standaard and as online videos on social media. Child Focus missing child alerts can be found at childfocus.be. Images of child sexual abuse can be reported anonymously via misbruikbeelden.be.

CREDITS

Client: Child Focus

Client contact: Tom Moons, Stéphanie Leyn, Selyna Ayuso Ferrandiz

Agency: VML Belgium ​

Executive Creative Directors: Kasper Janssens, Arjen Tarras

Creation: Tomas Van Loon, Patrick Vermeylen

Strategy: Jef Pelkmans

Account team: Pieter van Schil, Lotte Munnik

Design: Timothy Helmer, Christophe De Pelsemaker

Motion design: Lucas Van Orshaegen, Jeremie Mavanga

Copywriter FR: Jérôme Van Den Broeck

DTP: Jan-Bart Debruyne