Through partnership between Project Unloaded and Chicago Public Schools, students combine social media marketing skills with data on risks of guns, empowering their peers to decide against owning guns
Winning pitch to be incorporated into Project Unloaded’s Guns Change the Story campaign
CHICAGO – Dozens of teens from Chicago’s South and West Sides channeled their social media savvy for good at Havas Chicago today, presenting original social media marketing campaigns in a pitch competition by Project Unloaded, an organization using youth-powered narrative and culture change to address gun violence. Students’ pitches were judged by Chicago Public Schools COO Charles Mayfield, actress, rapper, and philanthropist Ta’Rhonda Jones, multi-media artist and Chicagofootworkdotcom creator Kent Jones, University of Chicago Medical Center lead violence recovery specialist Christine Goggins, and Edgar Vilchez, a CPS alum and Project Unloaded Youth Council member.
The pitch competition is the culminating event following a six-week program run by Project Unloaded as part of Chicago Public Schools’ Choose to Change (C2C) summer jobs initiative. During the program, teens learned about the risks associated with gun use and how carrying and owning guns is linked to more gun violence, not less. Advertising industry mentors from Havas coached the teens on incorporating this fact-based content into engaging social media marketing campaigns that inform and empower their peers to move away from wanting guns.
“Young people have the power to be influencers for social change in their communities,” said Project Unloaded founder and president Nina Vinik. “Through this innovative partnership, young Chicagoans are tapping into the platforms they already know and love with a new purpose – to challenge their peers on the myths that drive gun ownership and in turn, gun violence. With this generation leading the way, it’s an approach that can save lives.”
Akin to an advertising agency, teams from community partners BUILD and Lifeline 2 Hope developed full-fledged social media marketing campaigns. Teens took on agency roles to prepare for the competition, scripting and filming videos, designing graphics and advertisements, writing compelling copy, and crafting their pitch. Some also wove their personal experiences with gun violence into their ideas.
“Everyday, my team is focused on ensuring that our schools are safe and welcoming to all who enter,” said Chicago Public Schools Chief of Safety and Security Jadine Chou. “We partnered with Project Unloaded with that goal in mind – because we know that when a gun enters the picture, the young people we work to keep safe are less safe. It will take a generation of smart, creative people like our Choose to Change students to reverse Chicago’s gun violence crisis. Empowered with the facts and the tools they need to spread them, I know these teens can make a meaningful difference in Chicago and beyond.”
The winning campaign pitch, #JustStop by This City Just Kills, featured various creative strategies to inform teens about the risks of having and using guns. Campaign collateral included original, fact-based PSA-style social media video ads and proposed merchandise for their peers to wear and spread the message.
“When teens scroll through Instagram or TikTok, the algorithms might drive them to content that makes guns seem exciting or like a way to solve problems,” said Myra Nussbaum, Havas Chicago President and Chief Creative Officer, whose agency hosted the pitch competition and whose staff mentored the teens this summer. “When teens are equipped with social media marketing skills and the facts, they can push back against that narrative with the facts and share this message with their communities: We’re safer without guns.”
Students who participated in the program were paid through the Choose to Change summer jobs program. Each student on the winning team also received an additional payment via CashApp. The campaign will be incorporated in Project Unloaed’s Guns Change the Story campaign, which uses MadLib-style storytelling to prompt teens to reflect on the risks of gun ownership. The campaign has reached over 150,000+ Chicago teens as well as teens in other cities.
Since its founding in 2022, Project Unloaded has reached more than 3 million teens (approximately 14% of the 13-17-year-old population in the U.S.) through their social media campaigns. This is the second year of Project Unloaded’s summer partnership with Choose to Change. A case study on its first summer program with C2C is available here.
About Project Unloaded
The mission of Project Unloaded is to create a new cultural narrative that guns make us less safe. Research shows that teens and young adults are forming opinions and making decisions about guns. Since its launch in 2022, Project Unloaded has reached millions of teens with the facts about how guns make people less safe through teen-facing cultural campaigns and community partnerships. Empowered with the facts, young people can choose on their own terms not to own or use guns and lead us to a safer future. You can follow Project Unloaded on Instagram and TikTok.
About Chicago Public Schools
Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is dedicated to providing a high-quality education to all students, beginning with the District’s free full-day preschool programming for four-year-old scholars and continuing through neighborhood, magnet and selective-enrollment elementary schools that provide a rigorous K-8 education with schools that specialize in the fine arts, world language and culture, dual language, STEM, International Baccalaureate (IB), classical programs, and more. The rising District-wide freshmen-on-track and high school graduation rates reflect the hard work of the CPS community, including families, staff, and students across 635 schools. CPS celebrates the diversity of its more than 322,000 students who cite 182 home languages. Learn more about CPS at www.cps.edu and connect with CPS on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
About Havas Chicago
Havas Chicago brings an unmatched understanding of emerging consumers’ mindsets and behaviors, and a passion for embracing tomorrow’s trends shaping business and pop culture.
Part of Havas Group, a leading integrated marketing communications agency, Havas Chicago fuses an independent spirit with global scale to support the network’s mission to make a meaningful difference to brands, businesses and people. Havas Chicago has over 400 employees and a blue-chip client roster that includes Bel Brands, Citi, Hefty, Michelin, Moen, National Association of REALTORS, Pillsbury Baking, Reynolds Consumer Products, and more.
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