South Africa has a gun problem, and we’re not talking about it.

Over a 20-year period, nearly half of the children admitted to a Cape Town Children’s Hospital were victims of crossfire. In 2025 alone, more than 300 children in the Western Cape were treated for gunshot wounds, and 58 died from their injuries.

All for simply playing in the wrong place at the wrong time.

In South Africa, we’ve become so desensitised to gun violence that even tragedies like these no longer shock. We wanted to confront the reality head-on by showing South Africans what the future could look like if gun violence continues unchecked. In partnership with Gun Free South Africa, a leading NGO dedicated to reducing gun violence, we put forward a proposal for the world’s first “Bulletproof Park” in Mitchells Plain. The outrageous idea imagined the only safe and secure play area for children in a community where daily gunfire is a constant threat.

An idea this audacious didn’t just highlight the devastating impact of gun violence on children, it sparked a global conversation across traditional and social media. It forced people to ask: Is this really the future we want for our country’s children?

The campaign also created a powerful platform for Gun Free South Africa to reinforce its core advocacy pillars: policy reform, community action, and practical behavioural change to end gun violence. A proposal for a park we should never need helped ignite the conversations we desperately do.

Ultimately, the campaign drove 12 million earned media impressions, reached 99 million people, and generated 700% surge in public interest.