In May 2018, the UN Security Council unanimously recognized the link between conflict and hunger, emphasizing the issue of food insecurity as a key threat to peace.

In too many countries, hunger is being used as a weapon of war. Strategic practices to take direct control of food supplies, such as burning agricultural land, poisoning water supplies, bombing markets, destroying or confiscating vital crops and blocking aid deliveries, demonstrate the urgent need to find political resolutions to the problem.

Action Against Hunger believed it was time to take concrete action to break the vicious cycle of conflict and hunger, to rapidly improve global governance of the issue, identify potential courses of action and acquire long-term commitments from leading countries and states.

The main aim of the campaign was to raise awareness of decision-makers by finding a concrete symbol that represented the weaponization of hunger, a problem that is far too often perceived as being abstract.

To visually illustrate the idea, Action Against Hunger turned unused and confiscated bullet casings from war zones into knives and forks. The cutlery had the colour, the smell and the form of bullet casings… leaving no doubt about their message. Cutlery against hunger.

To help convince people to act and put pressure on governments and the international community, they launched the #StopHungerCrime campaign, asking people to post images of themselves on social media, holding the cutlery up in the shape of a cross.

To attract the attention of policy makers and the international community and urge them to take decisive action, Action Against Hunger initiated a mass solidarity movement on social media.

Various celebrities and influencers encouraged people to post images of themselves holding the cutlery up in the shape of a cross as a mark of protest. Among the influencers were several famous French and English journalists.

The higher the number of posts on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, the more the campaign was visible and the louder the message was heard.

The #StopHungerCrime campaign was launched in Paris by the ambassador and famous chef, Christophe Michalak, in November 2018

On a huge 15-metre long dining table, covered with a black tablecloth, the public was invited to discover the cutlery and the human stories behind the symbol.

Many press agencies were there to cover the event. But what they didn’t know was that, the next day, many celebrities, like Olivier Giroud, Raphael Varane, Marc Levy, Florent Manaudou, etc... would post pictures of themselves holding up the knives and forks.

The hashtag #StopHungerCrime generated a popular movement and raised awareness about the atrocities that Action Against Hunger works to condemn.

Thanks to our specially designed objects, 50 million people were reached around the world and 600 000 people shared the operation #StopHungerCrime.

Action Against Hunger was invited to the UN to defend Resolution 2417. Since then, the NGO has attended other international meetings to work on the implementation of the resolution.

Since November 2018, the campaign has generated:

500 million impressions and 4.9 million earned media

Following the extensive media coverage generated by the operation, the sets of cutlery will continue to live on. They inspired many international artists, influencers and journalists to share the campaign, attracting the attention of decision-makers and giving rise to potential opportunities in the near future.