Chasing the Dragon

By Y&R, Cape Town, South Africa

For Surfshack Brand Surfshack Outreach Programme

Winner in category Advertising

In subcategory Film

WPPED Cream
WPPED Cream
Project Description
Cheap methamphetamine -or tik- as it is known locally is devastating communities in an area known as The Cape Flats outside of Cape Town. In addition to this, kids in these areas are easily recruited into gangs because they feel they need to belong, have a purpose and have “something to do”. Our objective was to create awareness for the SurfShack’s surf school outreach program and lead people to their website to see how they could help.
Agency Solution
This online content, created documentary style, using the actual kids from the SurfShack programme, documents the redemptive power that surfing has had on communities in the Cape Flats –a place with serious gangsterism and drug problems, especially methamphetamine (known locally as tik). Through SurfShack, children caught in this seemingly endless cycle of abuse and desperation now have a way out: the ocean and the positivity of surfing. It presents them with a new religion, a new way of life and a new start.
Films were uploaded on Surfshack website and online which got the surf community heavily engaged online and via surf publications getting key influencers spreading the word amongst surfers around the country.
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