Gun violence produces a double burden for Brazilian women – those who suffer violence, often based on their gender and race, and the pain of losing their loved ones, whether they are their children, husbands, fathers, sisters or friends.
Almost 76.97% of firearm victims in 2023 were black people, with more than half (54%) young people aged 15 to 29 and 94% men, according to a survey by the Sou da Paz Institute, from Brazil, with data from Datasus / Ministry of Health. A campaign by agency, Troup, & Cyranos in collaboration with alegria aims to bring awareness to the gravity of the problem and reawaken the first campaigns carried out by the Institute in the 1990s by encouraging the voluntary and anonymous surrender of weapons.
Half of the deaths due to violence against women in 2023 were committed with firearms. 72% of these women were black and 59% were young people and adults up to 39 years old. In other words, this pain of grief and the search for justice in the face of the loss of close people also has a predominant face and race. Almost 78% of firearm victims in 2023 were black people, with more than half (54%) young people aged 15 to 29 and 94% men, according to a survey by the Sou da Paz Institute with data from Datasus/Ministry of Health.
To find a spokesperson who would represent this pain of family loss, the Sou da Paz Institute gave life to MarIA, a character built with AI. She incorporates thousands of visual references of the prevalent profile of mothers of victims of armed violence in the country.
“This campaign aims to bring victims and their families back to the center of the debate. When we talk about the need for responsible regulation that establishes strict criteria for access to weapons, we are talking about preserving people’s lives and preventing avoidable tragedies from happening,” stated Carolina Ricardo, executive director of the Sou da Paz Institute.
The original film, in Portuguese, https://lp.soudapaz.org/maria website, presents information on how the voluntary surrender of weapons can be carried out.
In the video, MarIA’s speech is accompanied by a male narration that contextualises that many of the deaths could have been avoided if weapons were not easily available.
“We are inviting the population to think about the danger of the presence of the weapon added to a second of uncontrollability, which can lead to accidents with children, femicides, deaths due to banal fights in traffic, so we publicise the existence of a channel of the Ministry of Justice for people to get rid of a firearm, whether it is legal or illegal, safely and anonymously, receiving monetary compensation for it,” Ricardo added.
The commercial was produced by Love Pictures Company, and included two weeks of AI work and more than 300 prompts, made possible by the combination of ChatGPT, Midjourney, Photoshop, Magnific ai, Runway, Kling and Topaz programs, in addition to the involvement of four AI Filmmakers and two daily recordings with an actress, to capture voice and body expression as a reference. All the sound work was developed by Antfood, which gave voice to MarIA through the careful interpretation of black and brown announcers from the five regions of Brazil.
“Much is said about how AI is being used to replace the human factor in communication, seeking to mimic feelings through characters that do not exist and just to make productions cheaper. We went on the path of the purpose behind the tool: MarIA exists, it is just not seen”, declares Marcelo Reis, founder of Alegria, a strategic creativity hub responsible for creating the campaign. “AI, in this case, fulfilled its role: it gave life to the sum of thousands of faces, which would be impossible to present in a piece of communication in an exciting way. Only Artificial Intelligence would be able to reach the qualitatively correct features of this face,’ stated Instituo Sou Da Paz creative, Marcelo Reis.
Credits:
Client: Instituto Sou Da Paz
Agencies: Troup, Cyranos and alegria
Creative Direction: Marcelo Reis
Creation: Marcelo Reis, Fernando Zenari
Accounting: Fernanda Antonelli
Production Company: Love Pictures Company
Producer: Wal Tamagno
Executive Producer: Joana Duchiade
Executive Producer of Post-Production: Mario Ubirajara
Executive Production Assistant: Caroline Julian
Research: Marta Miranda
AI:
Developer: The Future Studios
Directed By: Baepi Pinna
Executive Production: Cacau Morais & Elder Ono
AI Creators: Baepi Pinna, Cacau Morais, Danilo Paulino & Jonas Postigo
Audio Production: Antfood Music & Sound Design
Creative Direction: Lou Schmidt, Fernando Rojo & Tiago Mago
Executive Producers: Renato Castro & Christiane Rachel
Musical Production: Lou Schmidt, Fernando Rojo, Tiago Mago, Luis Bergmann, Vinicius Nunes & Lucas Baldin
Production Coordination: Monique Munhoz & Pablo Mello
Finishing: Bruno Broaska, Fabian Jorge & Pedro Macedo
