Unconventional Christmas cards highlight UK poverty

A North London food bank has taken a quirky approach to fundraising Christmas cards this year; with a range that includes a sanitary-towel snowman.

The Essential Christmas cards, created by advertising agency AML Group in support of Hackney Foodbank, have been designed to stand out amidst more traditional cards with snowy scenes and Santas.  Designs feature staples of the food bank’s emergency food parcels – there’s a washing up liquid Christmas tree and a baked-bean bauble.

Jack Smith, of AML, said: “The first rule of advertising we always follow is that if no-one sees it, it doesn’t matter.  With an issue as important as food poverty, it’s important to catch the eye; weird and interesting is good.  If you’ve a mantlepiece full of Christmas cards, which one are people going to ask about? We hope it’ll be the sanitary towel snowman!

“The cards don’t cost much more than a pint and it’s a brilliant way of helping people who are experiencing hard times.”

The cards are available to purchase online at £8 for six cards, with all proceeds going to the food bank.

Pat Fitzsimons, CEO of Hackney Foodbank, said: “We love these cards – we hope that they’ll spark conversations at Christmas and encourage giving. At a time when so many people are preparing to indulge, our visitors are struggling to afford even the basics.  By Christmas our food bank will have distributed the equivalent to 250,000 meals this year.  Demand here is 30% higher this year and we really need the public to donate to help us get through what is proving to be a very difficult winter.

“We are so thankful to the team at AML for producing these cards.  They’ve given their time and talent for free to make this happen.”

To order the cards, visit bit.ly/hfbcards