"Mollusc"

5 March 2024

90s

Give me shell-ter.

Previous Barnardo's commercials have used hyenas and a komodo dragon to engage viewers. This time, the children's charity take inspiration from molluscs—creatures that use shells to protect themselves. The girl in this 90" spot uses her shell to hide from the world as much as possible.

A small crack in the shell is her window to a world she no longer feels part of, whether it's at school, at home, or in-between. It would be easy to make a girl in a giant pink shell look ridiculous, but it works thanks to the sure hands of directors DOM&NIC and the team at Millennium FX who made the carapace.

Just when it looks like all hope is lost (the girl retreats so far into her shell that her feet disappear), a support worker tells her what she needs and wants to hear: "We can talk about anything. I'm not going anywhere." It brings the protagonist out of her shell, and shows what the charity can achieve if we support them.

UK

Charities