Spec ad: ASTI "Acid Violence" (2014) 1:30 (UK)

This spec ad for Acid Survivors Trust International (ASTI) was created to bring awareness to the very real problem that exists around the world, and the charity that does something about it. Lloyd Daniel came up with an idea to create a series of digital billboards featuring an acid attack victim. Every time the images were shared on social media, the scared face would heals in real time. I think this is a great idea, and I like how it highlights ASTI, an organization I hadn't heard of before. I also love the idea of sort of forcing the public into being proactive in dealing with this issue.
I do think there are some parts that need to be worked out to make this a killer ad.
First off, I would love it if, as a viewer, I was doing something more than just sharing an image on social. I'm all for awareness, but this is one of those ideas that could benefit from something more than slacktivism and I don't think it's that hard to turn a corner on it. There's a slight bit of a logic flaw in that the image I'm sharing is a scarred woman's face, but it's the billboard image that gets healed. Adding #returnasmile helps. But this still means there are a lot of images of a scarred woman's face in social media, but not necessarily the healed face, unless people continue to share the image as it progresses.
I think once those things get thought out a bit more it will be a really powerful ad.

Concept, design, writer, producer, film and edit: Looyd Daniel
Makeup artists: Joe Wilson-Kemp, Alice Schneidau