Interactive Annual 18:
advertising
The Girl Store
“A euphemistic interactive experience that is simple to understand, yet powerful in its message.”
—Michael Potts
“Powerful short, looping videos of young girls, my daughter’s age, standing on a page, waiting to be purchased. A dramatic take on the concept of ‘buying’ and ‘shopping’ with the end purchases going to a cause.”
—Kelly Goto
The goal of NGO Nanhi Kali is to provide underprivileged Indian girls with ten years of quality education. This awareness-raising project is a provocative e-commerce site where visitors can buy back the life of a young girl simply by purchasing the items she needs to get a proper education—the most eVective way to break the cycle of sex slavery and underage marriage. Visitors to the site can buy the items needed to attend school—backpacks, workbooks, uniforms and shoes—for the girls pictured on the site.
- • Nanhi Kali’s goal is to reach out to 500,000 girls by March 2014; it currently supports 70,000 girls in 9 states in India.
- • The site includes an animated video story of a young Indian girl with no set ending to her story. Visitor donations unlocked new chapters in the video’s series, and whether she got to school was completely up to the visitor.
- • Within 24 hours all “stock” had sold out, and to date the site has received over 3 million hits, raising enough funds to send hundreds of girls to school.
Comments by Justin Via
“The Girl Store was polarizing. We got great feedback, but some people also felt offended. We’ve never experienced this sort of reaction before. It’s nice to know a piece of work can still make people take action—for better or worse.”
“Yes. There are so many great charities in the world, it’s difficult to create an emotional connection that’ll get people to donate to a specific one.”
“Our client had the courage to do try something that made all of us feel a little uncomfortable, so I guess you could say the mutual trust ultimately strengthened the relationship.”
Credits
Shawna Laken, art director
Ariane Irle/Esteban Montes, interactive designers
David Orton, design director
Justin Via, associate creative director
Corinna Falusi, executive creative director
Brooks Paige, developer
Adam Hellan, editor
Charlie Williamson, photographer
Austin Wintory, music
Maureen Jones/Aneela Kumar, project managers
StrawberryFrog (New York, NY), project design and
development/ad agency
Nanhi Kali, K.C. Mahindra Education Trust, client
