Guns are now the leading cause of death among children for the third consecutive year, sparing almost no neighborhood and falling particularly hard on Black and brown communities. And yet, politicians continue to offer their thoughts and prayers and make excuses. Today, parents, survivors, and advocates for gun safety will launch The Shotline, an automated platform and campaign that uses artificial intelligence to re-create the voices of innocent victims of gun violence so they can share, in their own voices, their harrowing stories. Each victim’s personal message will be sent as a phone call directly to lawmakers, again and again, to force them to confront the toll their inaction has taken.
Led by Change the Ref and March For Our Lives, The Shotline uses audio provided by victims’ families and deep machine learning to create a computerized version of each victim’s voice. Last year, more than 40,000 people lost their lives to guns, but they will not remain silent. Lawmakers will receive detailed calls from victims like Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School senior Joaquin Oliver, saying:
“Hello, I’m Joaquin Oliver. Six years ago, I was a senior at Parkland. Many students and teachers were murdered on Valentine’s Day that year by a person using an AR-15, but you don’t care. You never did. It’s been six years, and you’ve done nothing, not a thing to stop all the shootings that have happened since.
“The thing is, I died that day in Parkland. My body was destroyed by a weapon of war. I’m back today because my parents used AI to re-create my voice to call you. Other victims like me will be calling too, again and again, to demand action. How many calls will it take for you to care? How many dead voices will you hear before you finally listen? Every day, your inaction creates more voices. If you fail to act now, we’ll find somebody who will.”
Ten-year-old Uziyah “Uzi” Garcia will also make calls with his story, saying:
“Hi! This is Uzi Garcia. I love video games, telling jokes and making my friends laugh, and jumping on the trampoline with my family. I’m a fourth grader at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, or at least I was when a man with an AR-15 came into my school and killed 18 of my classmates, two teachers, and me.
“That was almost two years ago. Nothing has changed. Even more shootings have happened. That’s why my family re-created my voice using AI to call you today and demand a change. You’ll be getting more calls from others like me. I used to love helping people. What is it going to take for you to help make sure violence like this stops?”
At launch, representatives will receive direct calls from:
- Uziyah Garcia—10-year-old killed alongside 18 classmates and two teachers in the Uvalde school shooting at Robb Elementary School by a man with an AR-15
- Joaquin Oliver—17-year-old shot and killed by an AR-15 during a February 14, 2018, mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida
- Ethan Song—15-year-old killed by a gun left unsecured at a friend’s house
- Jaycee Webster—20-year-old shot and killed in his bedroom by a lone gunman
- Michael Baughan—died from a self-inflicted shot to the head using a gun he was able to purchase in only 15 minutes
- Akilah Dasilva —23-year-old killed by a man with an AR-15 in a Waffle House mass shooting
Developed in partnership with MullenLowe, the campaign will also invite the public to share their own stories with the platform and send AI-generated messages from other victims across the country.
Change the Ref founders Manuel and Patricia Oliver, parents of Parkland shooting victim Joaquin Oliver, along with members of March For Our Lives, will launch The Shotline campaign in a rally outside the U.S. Capitol on February 14, six years to the day after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Youth activists and families of gun violence victims are returning to Washington to continue demanding immediate action from the Biden administration and state lawmakers.
“Some might judge me because I’m using artificial intelligence to re-create the voice of my murdered son,” Manuel Oliver said. “Let us judge politicians that use their organic intelligence to do nothing to save lives.”
The Shotline platform includes a searchable database of public contact information for state representatives, allowing people to easily call lawmakers directly to voice their opinions. The Shotline also provides a form that allows people to submit lost loved ones to be voices on the platform. Each new submission will go through a verification process to confirm identities and approvals to re-create each victim’s story.
Production company on the project was Edisen, with Mirko Lempert serving as AI creative designer.
CreditsClient Change the Ref and March For Our Lives, The Shotline Agency MullenLowe Tim Vaccarino, executive creative director; Anne Love Field, associate creative director; Tucker Stosic, sr. art director; Jack Loftus, associate creative director, copywriter; Kieran Murray, Annie Turner, Nick Gonzales, copywriters; Joao Paz, head of design; Gabe Guedelha, associate creative director, design; Christian Meissner, sr. designer; Jeong Lee, sr. motion designer; Aubrey Hayden, VP, executive content producer. Production Company Edisen Mirko Lempert, AI creative designer; Fredrik Lekman, Niklas Lindh, sound designers; Jake Loonan, exec producer
NHS England, M&C Saatchi UK, Director Tom Tagholm Team On PSA Highlighting The Overlooked Signs Of A Stroke
National Health Service (NHS) England has unveiled a multichannel campaign, “Act FAST,” to raise awareness of the individual signs of a stroke and get people to call 999 as soon as they suspect they may be experiencing any one symptom. The push, which is part of the ongoing “Help Us, Help You” campaign, was developed in partnership with M&C Saatchi UK.
The campaign depicts everyday situations where everything might seem relatively normal, but where there’s the sign of someone experiencing a stroke.
A key component of the campaign is this :30--directed by Tom Tagholm of Various Films--which sets up the idea that initially, a stroke might not seem like much, highlighting key symptoms: from struggling to use a paint roller, to not being able to smile when watching TV, to slurring your speech when reading a story to your grandchild. The PSA emphasizes that time is critical, ending with the line: “Face or arm or speech, at the first sign, it’s time to call 999.”
Jo Bacon, Group CEO, M&C Saatchi UK, said, “We want to ensure people take action on the first symptom, rather than waiting for more conclusive signs. To help them understand that even when everything seems normal, something serious might be happening.”
Matt Lee, executive creative director, M&C Saatchi UK, commented: “This is important work. We wanted to explore that precise moment when your world shifts, quietly yet powerfully, off its axis during a stroke. We highlight how a tiny external moment can actually be seismic—an extraordinary gear change, framed in a really ordinary way.”
Director Tagholm shared, “My Dad suffered a stroke a few years ago and was saved from the worst by acting quickly, and by the work of the NHS. So there’s... Read More