In an effort to provide abused children with a safe way to reach out
for help, a Spanish organization called the Aid to Children and
Adolescents at Risk Foundation, or ANAR for short, created an ad that displays a different message for adults and children at the same time.
The secret
behind the ad's wizardry is a lenticular top layer, which shows
different images at varying angles. So when an adult—or anyone taller
than four feet, five inches—looks at it they only see the image of a sad
child and the message: "sometimes, child abuse is only visible to the
child suffering it." But when a child looks at the ad, they see bruises
on the boy's face and a different message: "if somebody hurts you, phone
us and we’ll help you" alongside the foundation's phone number.
The ad is
designed to empower kids, particularly if their abuser happens to be
standing right next to them. And while this is a great and worthwhile
use of lenticular images, how long will it be before toy companies start
doing to the same thing to hawk their products directly at kids?