Danone Clover gives cancer kids a voice

A first of its kind, the commercial features children who are currently patients at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Children's Oncology Unit. The children are given free reign and actively participate in the production of the commercial themselves.

Marcelo Palmeiro, Marketing Director of Danone Clover, says this technique lent a very interesting hand-held view to the ad, and provided some interesting angles from the children's perspective. "The best spokespersons for this cause are the children themselves. Nobody understands their reality better, than the children living with the disease every day. They can often not speak for themselves, so we wanted to give them a voice, show their reality and the subsequent happiness they feel when someone really cares.

The hard-hitting campaign commercial opens with a black and white camera shot of two children deeply saddened and very sick as a result of childhood cancer. The commercial is aimed at educating consumers on the Danone Clover Kids Initiative, in which Danone Clover will donate 3 cents from every yoghurt, drinking yoghurt and Maas products sold from in June and July 2004 to the Childhood Cancer Foundation South Africa (CHOC). Through the Danone Clover Kids Initiative, the company will guarantee a minimum of one million rand for CHOC.