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29-JAN-2025 | Harrison’s Fund’s “Slow Painful Death” Ad

Author

Dan Bogachek
January 29, 2025

Harrison’s Fund’s “Slow Painful Death” Ad

Would you give £5 to save Harrison from a slow, painful death?

Harrison suffers from a disease called Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. It will gradually disable him and eventually kill him. There is no cure, no treatment and very little hope. Harrison’s Fund is dedicated to raising money to fund research into a cure or treatment so that we can buy him and others like him some time. This isn’t Harrison by the way, this is a picture of a dog I found on the internet. Harrison is my eight year old son. I used this image because people in Britain are more likely to donate to save an animal than a child with Duchenne. Sorry if you feel tricked, my son is dying and I’ll do whatever it takes to save him.

Please help us by texting ‘Make24 £5’ to 70070 🏁

  • Hook: “you” + immediately applying pain.

  • Pretty much the whole time, this ad is twisting the knife. Brutal.

  • The punchline is pure shock factor. Subverting expectations — exploiting either second-hand or first-hand guilt.

  • When a bunch of people die, it’s a statistic. But when an individual person dies, it’s a tragedy. We identify with individuals, not the masses — especially when it comes to pain. Weaponize accordingly.

You glance at your watch.

It’s 6:28. You’ve been at it since 3.
Crap. Your hot date is at 7. Running late. Sink shower it is.
Nowhere close to done editing…

“…at least all the ideas are laid out, so there’s that. Did I miss anything? I don’t think so? Ok, but how do I make it flow? I need to get the final draft to Stacey for design asap, team cutoff is at noon Thursday…”

You’ve spent dinner completely distracted. Your date just took off. You go home exhausted, plod to your desk, and flip open the laptop.

Or… what if:

5:41 — you’re out of the shower and lip-syncing.
6:17 — dressed to the nines and zenned out.
7:03 — the sunset glints off your aviators as you smile hello.
8:36 — it actually feels like you’re hitting it off. Not just hot, funny to boot.
Next morning, 9:27 — final draft ready in your inbox.
10:31 — Stacey messages back, “thanks, looks good!”

The difference?

Copygloss handled it. Before you left for the date, actually.

For help with editing, email Dan:
[email protected].