Last year the figure for homicides in London was in or around 132. We are only in August and there has already been 86 deaths that can be attributed to knife or gun violence in the capital, so before we break a decade old record, the Government has decided to do something other than deploy more police on the streets, but their latest effort has picked up some serious backlash.

In targeting the demographic that are seen to predominantly engage in street violence, the latest strategy of the anti-knife crime campaign has seen it target chicken shops. The likes of Chicken Cottage, Dixy Chicken and Morley’s are onboard and have allowed the Government to release chicken boxes in an all black covering with the campaigns #knifefree printed on the outside, and positive stories from young people who have chosen to avoid gangs and using weapons on the inside.

Now the initial feedback from this part of the campaign that was launched this week seems to be directed towards it being racist from prominent MP’s and other influential figures. So was it the right strategy but just poorly executed?

Though knife crime isn’t monopolised by an urban following as statistics will show, it is however centered around a certain ethnic group and age in inner cities. As a result, I believe the analytics that were deployed for the campaign would have shown that a fast food establishment, chicken shop, is possibly where this demographic would usually hang out. But could only using what we call ‘ma and pa’ establishments in the roll out for this part of the anti-knife campaign have hindered the effectiveness of the strategy and the subsequent backlash? If they had gotten the likes of McDonalds, Nando’s, Burger King and KFC involved – places that this group hangout too – would that have been seen to be more inclusive and then not seen as ‘racist?’ 

Whenever campaigns and content in particular are targeted towards the ‘urban’ demographic, brands or institutions can ill afford to make haphazard stereotypes or inauthentic representation of things. 

What the government maybe should have done was subtly introduce the brand message as a product so it seems less intrusive and feels cool.  A cool striking video asset that featured the black chicken boxes in it, like the chicken boxes were products being placed in strategically may have faired better, as when the supposed demographic now go to their local chicken shop and actually see it in there, it would have engaged them and the brand message be driven home. But not only in an inner city environment that is predominantly home to a core black population, the video asset would have to include other cities that are predominantly white populated where knife and gun crime are rampant, like Liverpool and Glasgow. Or places with a strong Asian following like Leicester and parts of Luton and Birmingham. The video asset would need to show the UK that it is a ‘country’ problem, and they’re aiming to solve it up and down. 

They have previously shot videos for this #knifefree campaign, but this one including the chicken boxes would have initially been rolled out simultaneously on notable blog platforms and the pages of influencers on social media that cater to an ‘urban’ audience. Traditional media outlets such as billboards, newspaper and TV adverts should have been the final destination for the roll out after the online roll out picked up traction. 

Great ideas can sometimes be ruined by poor execution and come in for unneeded criticism, and it feels like now the press team for the government’s campaign will be more concerned with fending off the ‘racist’ backlash that seems to be attached to the campaign, rather than concentrating on the promotion of #knifefree.