Age UK takes a stab at Facebook as it raises awareness of rising loneliness among OAPs

Age UK has launched a new advertising campaign, which uses a stark juxtaposition to respond to the current Facebook ‘Friends’ poster campaign. The adverts, designed by J. Walter Thompson, feature the words ‘No Friends’ over portraits of solitary elderly people.

Aiming to raise awareness of the one million older people in the UK it says go more than a month at a time without seeing or speaking to anyone, Age UK will ask people to text £3 to donate as part of the campaign, which will run in print and outdoor media.

“We need to do more to support older people to stay socially connected; this is a big part of our job at Age UK and everyone can help by being a good friend or neighbour to the older people they know,” said Marianne Hewitt, Head of Brand at Age UK.

Russell Ramsey, executive creative Director at J. Walter Thompson London, in refence to Facebook’s first TV campaign, added: “This is a great opportunity to remind people that some of us don’t live like that.”

The social media platform launched the multimedia ‘Friends’ campaign back in February to talk up the friendships formed among its 31.4 million UK users.

The on-going campaign includes outdoor advertising featured on billboards, which show emotive images of friendship groups with the word “friends” emblazoned.

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