Boys & Girls Clubs Spots Take Dark Turn in New Campaign

In a break from past Boys & Girls Clubs advertising campaigns that featured celebrity testimonials or showed children enjoying club activities, a new commercial for the national youth charity emphasizes the risks kids face on their own after school, writes The New York Times.

The new spot features children spilling out of school at 3 p.m. and into situations that hint at danger, such as girls being beckoned by a man in an alley or a boy playing on railroad tracks as a train whistle sounds. In a voice-over, actor Denzel Washington says that when school ends, millions of kids are “out on their own … out all afternoon when anything can happen.” The ad ends with a girl at the door of a Boys & Girls Club and an appeal for support.

The campaign also includes digital, print, and outdoor advertising and a dedicated website, GreatFutures.org. It will roll out Thursday, with numerous popular sites, including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, simultaneously running digital ads at 3 p.m.

Joe Waters, author of the book Fundraising With Businesses, lauded the charity’s new approach. “What we’re learning as nonprofits is that we all have to be ratcheting up the emotional appeal,” he said.