Research is at the core of our process and campaigns at Project Unloaded. From who our campaigns reach to where our campaigns run and what they say, research and data are part of our work. And not only do we dive deep into research projects – our Youth Council does too. Below you’ll find some of the qualitative and quantitative research that informs our work and inspires us every day.
Building on discoveries from Gen Z Gun and Culture Insights, we teamed up with C+R Research to explore how young people’s views and experiences around mental health and guns intersect – and how we can empower those in crisis to seek support.
Guns and gun violence loom large for Gen Z, with almost half (45%) living in homes with firearms and 30% who have had a personal experience with gun violence. Mental health is top of mind for Gen Z, especially for those who’ve experienced gun violence – yet less than a third of overall respondents are receiving help.
Still, there’s hope: while 40% of respondents are undecided about gun ownership, a significant majority say they’d tell a friend struggling with mental health to stay away from guns. This indicates that fact-based content about mental health and guns offers a potential avenue for engagement. resonate with young people.
In the fall of 2023, ongoing Hollywood labor disputes spurred a rise in unscripted content. Our Youth Council was curious how these changes might impact the messages TV shows send about guns – messages that can shape real-life perceptions of violence and safety.
The 2024 report revealed that while guns returned to the TV, shows without guns won the ratings wars. The group also presented recommendations for television producers, writers, and network executives to tell different, more accurate stories about guns. Gun Smoke is a first-of-its-kind research and has been spotlighted in Variety and IndieWire.
In 2023, Project Unloaded partnered with the research firm AHZUL to understand how multicultural teens in communities often impacted by violence view guns and safety issues where they live. Through both qualitative and quantitative rounds of research, we worked to understand how fact-based messaging could impact teens’ views of guns and the likelihood they would own or carry them in the future. We found a significant opportunity to intervene before young people have made up their minds on guns and help them shift against using guns by sharing the facts.
In 2022, Project Unloaded partnered with Global Strategy Group to survey 1,000 Americans, ages 13 through 25, to understand how young people, particularly Gen Z, think about guns and gun violence. The resulting report, Gen Z Gun and Culture Insights, echoes past research showing that most young people believe that having a gun makes them safer. But after reading simple messages on the risks of using guns, young people shifted away from the notion that guns make them safer by nearly 20 points. The magnitude of the shift is not seen in surveys of older populations. This change happened across all demographics – even young people in homes with guns shifted their views.
The survey highlights how deeply gun violence impacts young people and how willing they are to listen to the facts and change their views based on the data.
Where it all started! Our partners at Influence SG led a research initiative exploring young people’s attitudes, knowledge, and behaviors on guns. While the vast majority of teen respondents believe the myth that guns make them safer, about half said they’d benefit from learning more about the risks of gun ownership.
To turn the page on gun violence, we must tell a different story about guns. With your help, we can grow our work and save lives.
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