The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) teams up with one of the most beloved characters on Brazilian television to launch a special campaign this Children’s Day, highlighting a crucial issue: water scarcity. In partnership with the iconic mouse from the Castelo Rá-Tim-Bum program, the campaign aims to raise awareness of the challenges that many children face daily, living in regions where access to drinking water and sanitation is limited or non-existent.
The action recreates one of the program’s most memorable scenes, in which the character takes a shower singing his famous song. This time, however, when he turns on the shower, he is faced with a harsh reality: the lack of water. The action, developed by the agency VML Brasil, broadcast on social networks and other communication channels, will feature an interactive action that encourages public participation.
The audience will be invited to make donations to UNICEF’s water, sanitation and hygiene actions in Brazil, aimed at schools and vulnerable communities. For each donation, made using the pix key [email protected]participants will contribute to reaching the goal that will unlock a big surprise: a new character clip. Active public participation will be crucial to unlocking this special content (learn more at www.unicef.org/brazil/mes-das-criancas).
“At a time when there is a lot of talk about the ideal gift for Children’s Day, thousands of girls and boys want a very simple and fundamental gift: to be able to survive and dream about the future. To draw attention to this reality, it was necessary to go beyond data and traditional fundraising strategies: we needed an influence strategy that truly engaged and stirred the emotional memory of Brazilians”, says Lidia Carvalho, Head of Marketing at UNICEF in Brazil.
“To raise awareness about the topic, we chose to rescue an icon from the childhood of many people in Brazil: the Mouse from Castelo Rá Tim Bum”, says Isaac Serruya, creative leader at VML Brasil, heading the project. “Our intention was to activate this emotional aspect, which goes back to childhood, so that people become aware and donate to UNICEF. And when we reach our donation goal, helping millions of Brazilian children, we will celebrate this moment with an unprecedented clip from Ratinho.”
To help spread the message of awareness and solidarity, throughout the campaign, UNICEF will count on an important team of influencers, such as PodPah, and the profiles Cinthya Rachel (@cinthyarachel), Greengo Dictionary (@greengodictionary), Jean Capoani (@jeancapoani), Lipe Volpato (@lipe_volpato), Luciano Amaral (@lucianoamaral), Marcelo Tas (@marcelotas), Nogy (@canal90), Nostalgias 2000 (@nostalgias2000), Sabrina Oliveira (@thesabriss) and many others who will voluntarily disclose the action.
With this campaign, UNICEF hopes to engage society for a present and future in which no child needs to suffer from a lack of water, also reinforcing the need for public policies that ensure the right to water and basic sanitation, recognized by the United Nations in 2010.
For the campaign, UNICEF has the support of Instituto Claro, Huggies and Grupo Profarma.
The water and sanitation challenge in Brazil
In Brazil, unprecedented data, released by UNICEF this Thursday, shows that 12 million girls and boys live without adequate access to sewage. Furthermore, 2.1 million live without adequate access to drinking water. The numbers are from analyzes carried out based on the 2022 Demographic Census, from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).
Around the world, around 600 million children will live in areas with extreme water scarcity by 2040, according to an estimate by UNICEF, contained in the report “Thirsting for a Future”. The report warns of the impacts on child health and survival and reveals that climate change, increased demand for water and poor management of water resources are the main factors that intensify this crisis.
How UNICEF works
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) works in some of the toughest places on the planet to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. In 190 countries and territories, UNICEF works for every child, everywhere, to build a better world for everyone.
In Brazil, UNICEF has a Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) area aimed at supporting the strengthening of public policies in the most vulnerable territories – with special attention to traditional peoples and communities –, water services , sanitation and hygiene in schools and strengthening the capacities of municipalities located in the Legal Amazon and the Brazilian Semiarid.
The actions are aimed at the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially SDG 6, which aims to ensure the availability and sustainable management of drinking water and sanitation for all, with special attention to the needs of women and girls and people in vulnerable situation.
