He brought ‘Bottom Burps’ to the world with Purple Ronnie; gave birth to The Pig of Happiness through his Edward Monkton incarnation, not to mention spreading lots of joy through the Happy Jackson brand (with co-creator Heather Flynn), as well as through countless children’s books (Giraffes Can’t Dance for starters), but most recently Giles Andreae has used his talents to highlight and alleviate a serious issue – child food poverty in the UK.
Giles has joined forces with footballer and campaigner Marcus Rashford and illustrator Lisa Stickley in an Aldi campaign which sees the grocer pledge to donate 10 million meals to the needy over 2021, working with the giving platform Neighbourly.
Giles, the ‘greeting card laureate’ and revered children’s author, was approached by Aldi’s marketing agency BCW with a request for him to write a poem that would be brought to life in an animation to raise awareness of the heart-breaking issue of child food poverty which is now affecting 1 in 5 children in the UK, a dramatic increase due to the pandemic.
Giles was only too keen to lend his support and crafted the poem, entitled Hunger Monster, which was then brought to life through an animation (featuring the artwork of Lisa Stickley) and voiced by footballer and campaigner Marcus Rashford MBE, who has led the charge on pushing for free school meals for those in need.
As Giles highlights: “To have Marcus reading the poem, adds real weight and authenticity,” to the whole project.
To watch the film click below…
Respected illustrator Lisa Stickley (whose work has been published on greeting cards by The Art Group in the past as well as featuring in many children’s books and on her own range of products) was delighted to be given the task of creating the artwork for the Hunger project, working with Giles.
“I was coming up with the image for the Hunger character while Giles was busy writing the poem. I literally started with a pile of paper, my kids (aged 4 and 6) opposite me at the kitchen table and we had a BIG brainstorm. We wanted an imposing, annoying ‘something’ but the something to be not too scary, just very needy and irritating.”
As Lisa said of the film and Aldi’s campaign: “Hopefully it’ll get some people out there really realising what is going on and stop this from being such an awful situation.”
Explaining more about Aldi’s commitment, Giles Hurley, ceo of Aldi UK and Ireland, said: “We’re making it our mission to fight against child poverty as no child should ever go hungry. Not only are we pledging to donate 10 million meals throughout 2021 to families that need it, this campaign also aims to raise awareness of the increasing number of families struggling to put food on the table.”
Here is Giles’ poem…
Hunger Monster
Hunger’s always with me
He never leaves my side
He won’t let me ignore him
However hard I’ve tried
In the classroom, in the playground
And even when I’m home
He won’t stop hanging round me
Or leave me on my own
I sometimes sit and close my eyes…
Imaging a day when Hunger simply packs his bags…
And moves, far, far away
To see a ‘Behind the scenes’ film featuring Giles, Lisa and Aldi execs click below…
To find out more and how you can help go to www.aldi.co.uk/hunger
Top: A scene from the Hunger Monster animation.
