The Home Office launches anti-knife campaign

The Home Office is launching a billboard and online drive to support its anti-knife-crime campaign. Posters will show young people standing together against knife crime in the three-month push.

It will run in urban and residential areas across England and Wales, including the ten areas involved in the Tackling Knives Action Programme. Young people will also be encouraged to show their support by adding their own anti-knife photo pledges to the Bebo social networking website.

It is the latest step in the Government’s £3m national marketing campaign, “It Doesn’t Have to Happen”, which was launched in May this year. The campaign is created by the COI and young people.

Previous work has included radio and viral adverts to direct young people to a dedicated page on Bebo.

To date, over 60,000 young people have visited the “It Doesn’t Have to Happen” page on Bebo, and the site has over 6,000 friends. The website ads have been seen by 9.6 million young people and 2.8 million have heard the radio work, according to Home Office figures.