Grey NY Turns In Musical PSA for Women Against Gun Violence

By Erik Oster 

Grey New York launched PSA spot for Women Against Gun Violence entitled “Keep Your Finger Off the Trigger.”

“Keep Your Finger Off the Trigger” takes an unusual, even slightly bizarre approach, setting a simple folksy song written and performed by Stephen Krauss to stop-motion animation of dismembered fingers (directed and animated by Johnnie Semerad of Quiet Man). Meant to target millenials, who Women Against Gun Violence say aren’t paying much attention to the gun violence prevention movement, the spot shakes up the category with a different kind of PSA, presumably meant to be more shareable than the stunts and scare tactics you’ll see elsewhere. If nothing else, it certainly is attention-grabbing, between the casual gore and some NSFW suggestions for how to use your finger we expect this will raise a few eyebrows.

Advertisement

“This may not be your dinner table video but it gets the point across, and it gets people talking which is the ultimate goal,” Josh Stepakoff, gun violence survivor and Women Against Gun Violence’s youngest board member, told Adweek “I want my peers, the millennial generation, to use their power to affect change, and I believe this PSA will help get them engaged in the conversation.”

Credits:

Advertiser: Women Against Gun Violence
Spot Title: “Keep Your Finger Off the Trigger”
First Air Date: 4/28/15
Agency: Grey NY
Worldwide Chief Creative Officer: Tor Myhren
Deputy Worldwide Chief Creative Officer: Per Pedersen
Chief Creative Officer: Andreas Dahlqvist
Executive Creative Director: Stephen Krauss
Executive Creative Director: Ari Halper
Singer/Songwriter: Stephen Krauss
Creative Director: Marco Pupo
Creative Director: Joao Coutinho
EVP Director Broadcast Production: Bennett McCarroll
Director of Audio Services/Sound Engineer: Dante Desole
VP Account Director: Elizabeth Gilchrist
Account Supervisor: Katie Stirn
Business Manager: Cecilia Critchley
EVP Director of Music: Josh Rabinowitz
VP Director of Licensing: Amy Rosen
Project Manager: Emma Tonetti

Production Company (location): Quietman
Director/Animator: Johnnie Semerad
Executive Producer: Carey Gattyan
Associate Producer: Clare O’Brien
Editor: Morgan Mitchell
Flame Artist: Stephanie Greenberg

Advertisement