The sweeping landscapes and waterfalls have succeeded in getting people talking about hunger on the continent.
Nick Futcher, Oxfam acting communications director
The overwhelming view the British public have of Africa is negative. It is hardly surprising when their main source of information is a short report on the TV news about a war here or a terrible drought there. That report is likely to feature an aid worker on the scene and through their letter box will drop an emergency appeal asking for funds to help with the relief effort. More often than not the appeal, including Oxfam's, will show how stark poverty and suffering is.
There are the Comic Relief opportunities to see what can be done to help alleviate some of the problems thanks to the generosity of the public. And there are of course powerful documentaries which reveal the highs and lows of a particular issue or changing country, such as BBC2's Welcome to Lagos. Punctuating all this will be the latent stories of heroic figures such as Nelson Mandela, super human middle distance runners and wildlife chasing across the Serengeti.
But of course the reality of anywhere far away is unlikely to match the image you have of it. Africa is no different.
When launching a new advertising campaign, there are two very straightforward considerations. What are you trying to change? And what will capture the attention of your audience? This year, 2013, is an important year for reducing the number of people who go to bed hungry across the world. With the UK's presidency of the G8, real change will only happen if there is huge public support for the fight against hunger.
When we asked a random selection of 2,000 people across the UK what they think of when they think of Africa, more than half said "poverty", "famine" and "hunger". Only a small percentage said growth, business, education, or landscapes.
Respondents described the stereotypical portrayal of Africa as "depressing, manipulative and hopeless", with 43% of people asked saying it made them feel that conditions in the developing world would never improve. Three out of five of those polled said they were or had become desensitised to images depicting issues such as hunger, drought and disease and almost one in four (23%) admitted they turned away when confronted by such images.
Our new advertising campaign was needed to urge political change and it had to capture a busy and distracted public's attention. When more than 80% of people feel the media's portrayal of issues in developing countries is too negative, we needed to challenge those feelings of helplessness and negativity.
So on Boxing Day we took a new approach. We put arrestingly beautiful images of Africa across newspapers, outdoor and digital media. The sweeping landscapes and waterfalls provoked a reaction, they prompted debate, they got people talking about hunger in Africa. The images say more than Africa is a stunning continent. We also want people to know that there has been a marked improvement in food supply across sub-Saharan Africa in the last 20 years. We want as many people as possible to know that while nearly 900 million people remain hungry, there's enough food in the world to feed everyone.
It's remarkable that countries in sub-Saharan Africa have enjoyed annual economic growth averaging 4.6% since the turn of the century, leading to reductions in poverty levels. It's amazing that the rate of mortality amongst children under five has dropped from 17.4% to 12.1% since 1990, with the pace of decline continuing to accelerate.
Of course, the reality on the ground varies from country to district to region and there are many nuances and ongoing challenges. Chronic undernourishment remains a major problem across Africa and progress has stalled compared to other parts of the world. Despite improvements in food supply the number of people going hungry on the continent has actually increased by 37% in the last 20 years - in line with the general growth in population - predominantly in sub-Saharan Africa where 230 million are undernourished.
The aim of the adverts is not to give a complete and holistic picture of the continent - that would be impossible. We hoped the viewer would question what they thought they knew about Africa and find out more. We are challenging leaders at the G8 to step up the fight against hunger and invest in the progress already achieved.
A few weeks in, we are half way there - the hunger debate is thriving - it's now over to world leaders to respond.
Visit www.oxfam.org.uk/food to find out more or to text FOOD to 70066 to donate £5
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