Tell your kids they’re not good enough to dream.
That’s what some parents may inadvertently be doing, DDB Los Angeles suggests in its new “Reading By 9” PSA campaign for the Los Angeles Times.
Five 30-second TV spots (one is shown here), supported by print executions, broke in the L.A. market in late June. Three ads use black-and-white images of sullen-looking children, as a voiceover explains that failing to teach kids to read well by third grade is tantamount to telling them to forget lofty dreams. Two other spots show kids struggling to read.
Directed by Palomar Pictures’ Nicholas Brandt, the spots close with a voiceover urging parents, “Find out if your child is one of the four out of five at risk.”
“Until third grade we learn how to read. After third grade we read to learn,” said DDB executive creative director Mark Monteiro.
Al Punto Advertising, Santa Ana, Calif., helped develop Spanish-language versions.
–James Zoltak
Summer Reading
