Agency: dentsu impact | Market: India
Client: My Choices Foundation

“There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children,” said Nelson Mandela. But in India, despite the Right to Education Act and antichild-labour laws, child labourers haven’t vanished from society. Rather, they remain hidden, robbed of their childhood and their future.

During the festival of Diwali, millions celebrate the victory of good over evil. Since Children’s Day and Diwali fell on the same day in 2020, we thought it the ideal time to address this.

We worked with My Choices Foundation to highlight this ongoing and often hidden scandal of child labour, with a discussion starting film campaign.

Dentsu Impact launched a film that chronicles the stories of child labourers, who have to do physical, often dangerous, jobs in factories, construction sites, homes, restaurants, eateries and shops, to support their families.

The film showed the stories of these child labourers, who often go by the slang name “Chotu” in every industry that they serve in. The film raises awareness of Chotus and urges every citizen to report cases of child labour, by calling 1800 419 8588 or visiting www.mychoicesfoundation.org.

The film was released on social media platforms including Facebook, LinkedIn and

Twitter. The campaign has achieved powerful results, reaching 3.1 million people and generating 1.05 million video views, giving the issue the attention it deserves.