Description:

Aotearoa New Zealand has one of the highest rates of family violence in the OECD. The Ministry of Social Development has established the Love Better brand – a long-term prevention programme helping young people navigate sex and relationships to reduce harm now and in the future. ‘Own the Feels’ is the creative platform for all things related to break-ups.

The ‘The Broken Heartline’ is a first of its kind, a dedicated break-ups helpline to help young people seek support when they’re hurting most. Our job was to promote the helpline, and in doing so reduce harm in relationships to come.

Most of us go through a break-up at some point. During this time, we tend to dabble with the hurt we can cause. This is normal. But how much we dabble in causing more pain, is up to us.

To promote the Broken Heartline, we created the Broken Hearts. Five bespoke hearts, each expressing common emotions and responses experienced by young people - legitimising their hurt.

Putting these hearts out on the street was our way of literally getting the feelings out there, showing they happen to everyone, they don’t need to stay hidden.

With a sensitive topic like this in OOH, we wanted them to recognize and relate to the emotional state first, piquing their interest and getting on side, before offering them a gentle call to action second.
 
Each heart is a physical artwork, hand crafted using a combination of 3D printing, hand painting, chrome plating and hand-beading. They were photographed against a black void, focusing on each hearts’ pain. The typography is paired back. We weren’t shouting “are you broken?”, we let their feelings lead them to our answer.

Lonely Heart: rotting from the outside in, the mould-covered heart represents the decaying of someone feeling isolated and alone.

Angry Heart: the white ceramic shell represents the fragility of someone in pain, trying to hold back the rage bursting through like a tooth-filled teratoma.

Wasted Heart: candy blue represents pop culture’s glorification of self-inflicted drug or alcohol poisoning. The vomit strain symbolises the drain on the body.

Jealous Heart: the fleshy texture represents the heart being pumped full of sinister thoughts, while the eyes make it feel like you’re being watched.

Sad Heart: dripping gold represents the goodness of the heart, while inside is filled with a black gunky sadness, seeping out through tear ducts.

The Broken Hearts reached young people in key decision making moments in places relevant to them – out and inside bars and clubs, around schools and universities, and other high traffic areas at key times during the day and night. The campaign reached broken hearted lovers in the moments they needed it most, intercepting them before a bad decision could be made.

The weighting of heart first, call to action second, meant these were seen as posters, not government ads.

In a nod to the power of empathy, executions were repeatedly stolen – delivering our message to flat lounges and bedrooms across Aotearoa.