The New Zealand Police have launched a new recruitment campaign in the hopes of attracting empathetic people to the force. Using a social experiment, police and Ogilvy & Mather asked Kiwis if they would walk past someone in need or stop and help. However, it’s not just questions of morality being raised, some viewers were also wary of the campaign’s tactics.
A series of five videos featuring real-life scenarios have been captured, each exploring issues police officers deal with on a daily basis including alcohol-related incidents, mental health, at risk youth and safety on our roads.
So far two videos have sparked debate on social media including a young boy posing as homeless by feeding out of bins, and a man collapsing on a sidewalk. Both scenarios were filmed on main roads in Auckland and demonstrate dozens of pedestrians walking past without stopping to offer help.
Hungry boy – Do you Care Enough to be a Cop?
What would you do?#icareenough
Posted by NZ Police Recruitment on Sunday, March 20, 2016
Collapsed man – “Do you care enough to be a cop?”
What would you do?#icareenough
Posted by NZ Police Recruitment on Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Those who do stop to help are the type of people the New Zealand Police hope to recruit, according to a release.
New Zealand Police deputy chief executive public affairs Karen Jones said the approach links strongly to the police value of empathy.
“It helps us tell a compelling story about the special type of person who chooses to be a police officer. And at the same time reach out to like-minded people in the community to join us.”
35 mins of filming, around 500 people had a chance to see the hungry boy and only a few people helped. In the original video we focused on one incredible group who cared. Now it’s time to acknowledge a few others who did the same. #icareenough
Posted by NZ Police Recruitment on Tuesday, March 22, 2016
To create the story, executive creative director Regan Grafton was inspired by an incident that occurred 10 years ago.
“An elderly man was beaten and left lying unconscious on the pavement in an inner city carpark however, this wasn’t the disturbing part of the story. The disturbing part was that it took three days before someone cared enough to check to see if he was okay. That story upset me because I couldn’t believe this could happen in our country.”
With this in mind, he said the campaign was designed to do two things: attract the right kind of people to the New Zealand Police and, hopefully, remind everyone of the importance of a sense of community and caring for each other.
Since its launch on 21 March, the campaign has reached more than three million Facebook feeds, received more than 800,000 views, more than 30,000 likes, shares and comments in New Zealand and as far afield as Spain, China, USA, UK and Ireland.
Throughout the comments, the New Zealand Police were asked how the experiment was conducted, with people concerned that the boy was in fact homeless and made to eat food from the rubbish.
Lots of people have been asking questions about the video we released yesterday. Here’s some quick facts…1 = The boy…
Posted by NZ Police Recruitment on Monday, March 21, 2016
And despite the majority of comments expressing heartbreak, disgust and anger toward those who did not stop, some opted instead to question whether or not the use of a Caucasian boy placed on the main road in Newmarket is an accurate representation of poverty in New Zealand.
The police hope to attract 400 new recruits and the campaign is aimed at 18 to 29-year-olds, in particular Maori, Pasifika, Chinese, Indian, Latin American, African and Middle Eastern people to better represent the diversity of Kiwi communities, according to a release. Attracting more female recruits was also an objective.
Credits
Executive creative director: Regan Grafton
Creative group head: Darran Wong Kam
Senior writer: Paul Hankinson
Junior creatives: Kieran Beck, Matthew Knight
Planning director: Ben Fielding
General manager: Christina Mossaidis
Account manager: Joel Walden
Media director: Denelle Joyce
Social strategist: Mike Adly
Senior designer: Danny Carlsen
Chief digital officer: Paul Pritchard
Digital producer: Janine Johnston
Creative technologist: Ajay Murthy
Studio: Dave Preece
BTS filming and retouching: Jamie Wright
TV producer: Kate Rhodes
Film production company: Social@Ogilvy and Made
Director: Oliver Maisey
Producer: Phil Liefting
DOP: Simon Temple
Editor: Gonzalo Deza, Gary Sims
Post supervision: Martin Spencer
Colour grader: Ben Marshall
Music composition: Liquid Studios
Ethnic consultants: Michael Jones and Jade Te Uri Karaka
Client: NZ Police
Product: NZ Police Recruitment
Deputy chief executive public affairs: Karen Jones
Head of brand and engagement: James Whitaker
Senior marketing advisor: Chandrika Kumaran
Senior digital producer: Linda Krug
