Ad Council Puts Firearm Safety Convos in Video Games

Can the org's space-opera scenario make an impact on planet Earth?

You can’t change behavior and help save lives if your message doesn’t reach people where they live. That credo increasingly leads NGOs and charities to make appeals in the gaming universe. They harness the look, feel and functionality of the medium to land their pitches with a fresh spark and culturally relevant impact.

“The Final Exam”—Change the Ref’s playable gun-safety initiative that scored a pair of Grand Clios—is a prime example.

Now, we have another notable entry. Rolling out from the Ad Council, Sawhorse Productions and Admazing, the work also addresses firearms issues, using galactic game scenarios to drive home its point.

Unlike the emotionally wrenching public-school scenario of “The Final Exam,” however, the approach, though earnest, feels lighter, using entertainment to brighten its lesson.

The PSA below takes place on a distant world, as a mom in battle-armor vanquishes weird beasties and delivers her young son to the home of his alien pal for a playdate. Of course, there’s a twist…

Lock up those guns! Glocks or atomic blasters, they should never be accessible to kids. The metaphor’s crystal clear, and the animated story doesn’t preach or overstay its welcome. It’s designed to start a conversation, and the tone feels just about right, drawing in eyeballs with sci-fi action while avoiding graphic depictions or rushes to judgment.

Both the PSA—from Sawhorse, with a script by Widow’s Bay executive producer Colton Dunn—and playable ad elements (from Admazing, and launching soon) will appear in game environments. They drop as firearm injuries rank as the leading cause of death for children and teens ages 1 to 17, and 6.7 million kids live in homes with unlocked and loaded guns.

Below, Muse chats with Ro Patrick, SVP, campaigns & programs at the Ad Council, and Nic Hill, co-founder head of interactive at Sawhorse, about the work, which falls under the AC’s “Agree to Agree” banner.

Gaming’s such a ubiquitous medium for all ages, seems like a no-brainer.

Ro Patrick: It’s critical for us to continually find new and unique ways of inspiring anyone with a child in their life to have nonjudgemental conversations that can keep their loved ones safe. With 75 percent of parents saying they play video games, there is clearly an opportunity to reach these audiences with gaming-inspired creative in these environments.

The target for this new work is millennial parents and anyone with a child in their life. After experiencing the new PSA or playable ad unit, users should feel informed and empowered. Both assets provide guidance on how to start productive conversations about youth firearm injury prevention. And the materials and resources at AgreeToAgree.org offer tips to help start the gun safety conversations that many parents are nervous to have. Once these habits and dialogues are normalized, countless firearm injuries can be prevented.

Where exactly will the campaign appear?

Ro Patrick: Promotion for these assets will be provided by Admazing, Aquatica Studios, Basket Entertainment, Chatis, Skylight Media and Bent Pixels, bringing the PSA to gaming environments and social platforms where the Millennial gamer audience already spends its time. This includes Roblox, YouTube and Admazing’s mobile gaming network of over 5,500 properties.

Is the PSA all AI, CGI?

Nic Hill: It’s all CG 3D animation built in Unreal Engine, with custom characters and environments our team designed and animated from scratch. AI came in on two specific pieces: the character voices are AI-generated from ElevenLabs, and we used AI tooling to help with the lip sync. Everything else is the creative team.

It has a vaguely Star Wars vibe. What was the inpso here?

Nic Hill: It’s less Star Wars than the space-opera genre it comes from. That visual language is shared across dozens of games, so you recognize the world instantly. It lets us take the campaign line literally: ‘”In every world, we all can agree that kids should be safe.” Two adversaries who look like opposites, finding common ground the second it’s about their kids.”

I like the twist at the end. Is that your hope: Keep ’em glued for :30 and let the reveal carry the day?

Nic Hill: That’s the hope. The high-energy, bombastic game world is the hook. It has to earn attention the second it hits the screen. But as the spot settles, it’s the emotional turn that carries the message. The reveal is the part people remember.

Can you talk about the importance of using video games as a PSA medium in general?

Ro Patrick: There are so many ways brands can show up in gaming and they are all quite different. For example: running an ad in a game, sponsoring a Twitch livestream, building a custom mini-game, developing playable ad units or creating an immersive world in Roblox are all unique experiences that deliver on different levels of engagement and objectives.

For the Ad Council, gaming is an important medium because it allows us to reach audiences in highly immersive environments, often unlike we can in traditional media. Gaming is inherently participatory, meaning that users are actively spending time, making decisions, collaborating and interacting, which forges paths for deeper engagement with our messages. Ultimately, it’s about meeting people where they are and delivering content in a way that feels native to the experience rather than interruptive.

We’ve had many forays into gaming before. One example was a project for our “Love, Your Mind” mental health program in Roblox.

Nic Hill: Over 80 percent of U.S. kids ages 5 to 18 play video games, but the more important number for us is that their parents do, too—75 percent. The first generation raised on games is now raising children, so we’re not reaching into an unfamiliar space to find them. It’s where they already are. That’s what makes gaming a serious channel for a message like this, not just a placement.

Related: Magazine Profiles Young Victims of Gun Violence in America