Shockingly, 80% of burns on Pakistani children are caused by something very everyday: the spillage of hot tea. Most of the affected children are below the age of 10, for whom a split second of negligence results in lifelong impact, or even in some cases death.
In Pakistan, every third household has a burn victim, and almost all burns cases are avoidable. In order to inform parents and relatives on precautionary measures, Shalamar Hospital Lahore and the Babar Ali Foundation have teamed up with BBDO Pakistan/Impact BBDO and have released a shocking film featuring real burn victims. The film, which begins by asking children “Who burnt you?” receives responses such as “My mom did,” and ends with a message saying “This tea stain never goes away.” The film then directs viewers to a website which educates on safety measures as well as instructions on post-incident treatment.
The powerful film has been shot by acclaimed Pakistani director Jami with his team at Azadfilm Company, and in the first 24 hours alone, has been shared tens of thousands of times online.
Ms. Hashmat Effendi, (Founder of H.E Burn & Plastic surgery department) stated: “Our journey to protect our nation’s children has started. This campaign is not against tea – it is an awareness campaign to teach our society to protect children by keeping hot cups of tea away from them.”
Ali Rez, Regional ECD, Middle East and Pakistan for BBDO, commented that “It is our hope that by bringing this to parents’ attention, we can bring about the minor lifestyle changes and precautions necessary in our households to protect children.”
Hira Mohibullah, Creative Director, BBDO, stated that “As a nation that drinks tea morning, noon and night, this conversation needed to happen. We worry about staining our clothes because it’s hard to wash out, but often forget the other kind of permanent mark it can leave on our little ones due to negligence.”
The campaign will be further expanded into promotional item designs, and an advocacy campaign for the government to include warning messages on tea packaging.
