In the United States police brutality and violence in the black community has increased in alarming numbers year after year. On average in the last three years 1,100 police deaths annually of unarmed African Americans have occurred at the hands of the police with 2017 looking to be the highest total ever. More people died at the hands of police in 2017 than the number of black people who were lynched in the worst year of Jim Crow (161 in 1892). Cops killed more Americans in 2017 than terrorists did (four). They killed more citizens than airplanes (13 deaths worldwide). When we launched this idea the media and PR became our marketing campaign. The media and public alike embraced the idea, garnering thousands of orders. These orders allowed the organization to produce more product. With a one-for-one strategy we can give away product away which in the end we hope saves lives and bring better understanding between the police and the community they serve.

PEACE BRIEFS:

How do you bring understanding between the police and the community they serve? Instead of creating an advertising campaign we created a product. Being forced to raise your hands, or being told to lay on the ground during an arrest creates a rare opportunity to display a message of humanity and understanding. The waistband of these unique undergarments became a billboard to deliver a message of peace. A lasting moment of humanity that might save a life.

We partnered with a local designer and manufacturer to create four distinct messages across our undergarments:

MY LIFE MATTERS

I’M A FATHER

PLEASE DON’T SHOOT

I’M NOT ARMED

We also built a retail website (peacebriefs.com) that allowed people to order the undergarments for direct delivery.

Site went live in October with pre-orders. Undergarments are now being shipped across the country. To date we’ve sold sold and given away over 2K pairs. We’ve incurred over 1.6 million media impressions in less than six month.

In total we’ve had over 1.6 million impressions across 25 different major media outlets.

We’ve sold or given away over 2,000 pairs of undergarments to date in three months. The response rate to our mission and the product in a short period of time has shifted the conversation that a creative idea can change hearts and minds. SATURDAY MORNING’s goal as a non-profit is to continue to produce and flood inner city communities with our product with that hope that a simple message might save a life. This is a long term product that markets and promotes hope and change through creativity. If an undergarment can save one life we have achieved our mission.

Challenge: In the United States police brutality and violence in the black community has increased in alarming numbers year after year. On average in the last three years 1,100 police deaths annually of unarmed African Americans have occurred at the hands of the police with 2017 looking to be the highest total ever. We asked how do we emotionally disarm the public and the police? Relying on traditional media was inefficient, financially impractical and not a bold enough statement for the police and the community to make impact necessary to cause change. This led us to a simple idea, to put the messaging in the hands of the community.

When your hands are up your briefs are showing.

We chose four headlines:

MY LIFE MATTERS

I’M A FATHER

PLEASE DON’T SHOOT

I’M NOT ARMED

These messages became our billboards and a dose of humanity that we are all humans first.

SATURDAY MORNING is an organization that helps promote peace, generates love, raises awareness of injustice and fights for fairness to create change and understanding between all races. Our mission can’t be accomplished alone. Alongside every artist, designer and technologist who submits their vision of the future, our content partners and sponsors provide us with the additional help we need to bring this vision of peace into reality.

• Brief: The brief was simple. How do we create an awareness campaign to help decrease the alarming police violence specifically in the African American community. What can we create to bring better understanding between the police and community they serve.

• Objectives: Develop an original idea that can help decrease police violence specifically in the African American community, while also bringing understanding between the police and the community they serve.