The artwork that we’ll be discussing in this article is actually a social campaign for UNICEF China that aims to remind the Chinese public to remember the 1.5 million underprivileged children in the country. This particular ad was published during the lead up to the Beijing Olympics (2008), but unfortunately the situation for children is still not ideal. These homeless boys were painted to present children them as almost invisible, easy to ignore.
The standard of living in China has improved over the few decades. However there are still widening gaps between rich and poor, and urban and rural areas. Many children, especially those from minority ethnic groups, live in remote areas and lack access to good quality health services and education.
For example an estimated 27.3 million children between the ages of 6 to 17 years old drop out of school. Furthermore, according to the Global Times, a new report reveals that one-third of China’s rural students are “left-behind children” (rural children under the age of 16 whose parents are migrant workers, or who have one migrant-worker parent with the other incapable of guardianship).
According to Shanghaiist (2017) the reported number of children left in this condition varies drastically, with estimates falling anywhere between 9 to 60 million. Obviously, it is impossible to know exactly how many children have been left to live by themselves out in the Chinese countryside, but it is obvious that this is a serious issue.
In just five days, UNICEF was able to raise funds totalling approximately USD 30,000 for the welfare of underprivileged children.
Artists:
Kevin Lee, Haohui Zhou, Bin Liu
Advertiser:
Unicef China
Agency:
Ogilvy & Mather, Shanghai, China
Sources:
http://theinspirationroom.com/daily/2008/dont-ignore-me-4/
http://shanghaiist.com/2017/07/26/left-behind-children-survey.php
Picture from:
http://osocio.org
macrography 
perfect
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