Borough Of Greenwich: The Power of Cute
The Borough Of Greenwich wanted O & M London to address escalating vandalism, particularly shop shutters being ripped off, by a minority within the community. The challenge was to deter these destructive acts and foster a sense of respect and ownership. They needed an innovative solution to protect local businesses and improve community morale, ultimately stopping the damage and restoring peace.
Creative Idea
Greenwich painted baby faces on shop shutters, stopping vandalism by proving cuteness deters destruction.
O & M London found a way to stop the problem minority from destroying their own community in Greenwich area and so they used an overlooked form of media. The shop shutters that were being ripped off. They painted them with baby faces and it stopped.
The Psychological Shield of Local Infants
The Science of Kindchenschema
The campaign was a landmark application of Nudge Theory, specifically leveraging the Baby Schema (Kindchenschema). By painting portraits with large eyes and round faces, OgilvyChange triggered a biological "nurturing instinct" in passersby that subconsciously suppresses aggressive behavior. This shifted the urban management paradigm from "hard" deterrents like barbed wire and CCTV to "soft" environmental cues. It effectively challenged the Broken Windows Theory by proving that signs of innocence can prevent crime more effectively than signs of authority.
Real Faces of Woolwich
To ensure community "ownership," creator Tara Austin insisted on using real local babies rather than stock imagery. The agency photographed neighborhood children and commissioned street artists to recreate them in spray paint. This local connection turned the shutters into community landmarks. One child, Maxwell, became a local celebrity after his portrait was painted on a shop previously gutted by fire. Shopkeeper Zafar Awan noted that locals would often ask him to keep his shutters down just so they could admire the artwork.
High Impact Low Budget
The entire project was executed for less than £10,000, which was less than half the starting salary of a single police officer at the time. Despite the low cost, the intervention achieved a 24% reduction in anti-social behavior. The "baby shutters" remained famously untouched by graffiti, as street artists respected an unwritten code against defacing images of children. The success led the Greater London Authority to fund a second phase, Babies of the Borough 2, which expanded the psychological experiment into West Ealing.
Creative Strategy Deconstructed
Company
The Borough of Greenwich possessed a vast, overlooked canvas of high-street shop shutters and a mandate to restore order. They had the authority to implement community-wide aesthetic interventions that functioned as psychological deterrents.
Category
Public safety initiatives typically rely on aggressive deterrents like CCTV, barbed wire, or heavy policing. These conventional methods often create a hostile environment that can inadvertently provoke the very anti-social behavior they aim to prevent.
Customer
Potential vandals often feel a disconnect from authority but remain susceptible to innate biological triggers. There is a universal human instinct to protect and nurture infants, a psychological response that overrides the impulse for destruction.
Culture
In the wake of the 2011 London Riots, there was a societal push for 'nudge theory' and softer, psychology-led urban management. This move toward behavioral science replaced traditional enforcement with subtle environmental cues to influence public conduct.
Company
The Borough of Greenwich possessed a vast, overlooked canvas of high-street shop shutters and a mandate to restore order. They had the authority to implement community-wide aesthetic interventions that functioned as psychological deterrents.
Category
Public safety initiatives typically rely on aggressive deterrents like CCTV, barbed wire, or heavy policing. These conventional methods often create a hostile environment that can inadvertently provoke the very anti-social behavior they aim to prevent.
Strategy:
Leverage biological empathy to transform vulnerable urban surfaces into protective symbols that subconsciously deter destructive anti-social behavior.
Customer
Potential vandals often feel a disconnect from authority but remain susceptible to innate biological triggers. There is a universal human instinct to protect and nurture infants, a psychological response that overrides the impulse for destruction.
Culture
In the wake of the 2011 London Riots, there was a societal push for 'nudge theory' and softer, psychology-led urban management. This move toward behavioral science replaced traditional enforcement with subtle environmental cues to influence public conduct.
Strategy:
Leverage biological empathy to transform vulnerable urban surfaces into protective symbols that subconsciously deter destructive anti-social behavior.
Results
Since the experiment started six months prior to the video's creation, none of the shutters have been vandalized. Locals reported feeling "much safer." News outlets worldwide, including CBS News, The Huffington Post, BBC World Service, HLN.BE, DeMorgen, vt.nl, AP, 247ED, e.terra, busca, DiarioVeloz.com, El Nacional, and Camillen, covered the story. Post-filming, police reported an 18% fall in anti-social behavior in the area.
0
vandalized shutters in 6 months
18%
fall in anti-social behavior
global
media coverage
Strategy Technique
Find the Consumer Truth
The strategy uncovered the psychological truth that even vandals are deterred by innocent imagery. This insight into human behavior effectively stopped destructive acts.
Explore Technique
Creative Technique
Use the Power of Cute
The campaign directly deployed baby faces on shop shutters. This leveraged cuteness to bypass rational filters and deter vandalism effectively.
Explore Technique
Craft Breakdown
This campaign's craft is exceptional in its intelligent application of a profound behavioral insight, beautifully executed through compelling visual art to solve a tangible social problem.
The creation of hyper-realistic, emotionally engaging baby faces on the shop shutters showcases high artistic skill and directly translates the psychological insight into a powerful visual execution.
The careful guidance of the style, realism, and placement of the murals effectively ensures the 'cute' features are compelling and universally understood to evoke a protective and caring response.
The true power of this campaign emerges from the seamless integration of a scientific behavioral insight with compelling artistic execution, transforming passive surfaces into active social deterrents.
