Marcus Rashford offers his voice to Aldi's animation on little one poverty
Children's food poverty was dramatically brought into the spotlight in 2020. However, with most politicians failing to understand or correct the situation, responsibility for the pressure fell into the hands of activists – most notably Manchester United footballer Marcus Rashford.
This week, Aldi posted an animated ad titled Hunger with new pictures circulating online showing the meager free school lunch packages sent to families during school closings. The film looks at the daily impact of children's food poverty – a situation that, according to the supermarket, affects one in five children in the UK.
The film tells the story of a young child who is accompanied by an emerging personification of hunger at school, at home, and everywhere in between. The animation is brought to life with images by illustrator Lisa Stickley, whose painted textures, wobbly lines, and the use of school book paper give the ad an innocent, child-like quality.
Aldi hired Rashford, who recently launched the Child Food Poverty Taskforce, a coalition of charities, supermarkets and grocery stores, to tell the film with a poem by children's author Giles Andreae.
"When I read the script for the Aldi animation, it felt like I was talking about myself ten years ago," says Rashford. “This story is a reality for millions of children, so of course I was happy to vote. I am proud to name Aldi a founding member of the Child Food Poverty Taskforce. Aldi has continued to take active steps to tackle the problem of child food poverty and I encourage everyone to share in their pledge to donate 10 million meals. 2021 is a time to improve the playing field once and for all. "
The spot was created against the backdrop of research by the Neighborly charity which found that the demand for food for families has increased 71% over the past six months, with 96% of children being supported by neighborhood charities miss meals once a week – and 14% miss a meal a day. The supermarket has pledged to donate 10 million meals to families facing food poverty in 2021.
aldi.co.uk/hunger