Design > Communication Design

THE GUN VIOLENCE HISTORY BOOK

FCB CHICAGO / ILLINOIS COUNCIL AGAINST HANDGUN VIOLENCE / 2019

Awards:

Gold Cannes Lions
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Supporting Content
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Overview

Credits

Overview

Background

For over a century, gun violence has been a deadly issue in the USA. It’s a history that keeps repeating itself. But sadly, Americans have become numb to its past. To create change, The Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence, an organization that has been fighting gun violence with common sense solutions for over 40 years, needed to influence lawmakers, remind voters and educate future voters on the value of common-sense gun regulations.

Describe the creative idea

There has been so much gun violence in America that if we put it in a book, it would stop a bullet. Introducing The Gun Violence History Book. A powerful symbol, and an educational tool, made out of articles, facts, and data to showcase a history that repeats itself. A book so thick it has done what history has been unable to do. Stop a bullet.

But more than it being a sad uncovering of our past, this book acts as a lesson for the future— for Americans young and old who still believe there is a way for us to close the book on America’s gun violence history.

Describe the execution

We worked with a gun violence history author to curate, collect, and write 19 chapters to help people better understand gun violence, and how common-sense gun regulations will help it.

Designed with 228 years of history using only newspaper articles with heartbreaking headlines and journalistic photography. After binding it, the books were shot with a .45 caliber handgun, the most common gun used in street violence - adding a unique design element. Finally, we added a message where the bullet stopped.

The book became a vehicle for our message. We sent the books to lawmakers. We used the book for gun violence history classes. Books were displayed where historical gun violence took place. These displays, a film and PR drove people to our site where they could find and email their senator, or request the book to use as a classroom education tool.

List the results

The Gun Violence History Book became more than just a book, it became a powerful tool for change. In the first three days with no paid media, we garnered over 100 million media impressions and a total earned media value of over $1.5MM. The book created thought-provoking conversations that put pressure on lawmakers, and got voters and future voters supporting common sense gun regulations. Since the launch, schools and teachers across America have requested the book to conduct their own Gun Violence History classes.

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