The Help Delhi Breathe team introduced a unique new activation to help address one of their campaign demands around public air quality monitors and health advisories.
On November 3rd, the team installed a giant pair of lungs in front of one of Delhi’s oldest hospitals to raise awareness for the abysmal levels of air pollution in Delhi. The lungs, which were made out of HEPA filters and included a vacuum installation that mimicked breathing, showed the effects of air pollution in a very visceral way: Over the course of six days, the lungs slowly turned black due to the pollution in the air.
To help generate attention, the team held a contest that asked people to guess how many days it would take for the lungs to turn black. Winners of the contest received air purifying plants.
The installation garnered a huge amount of media attention, including on NDTV, Aaj Tak and The Quint. The installation was trending on Twitter, and reached more than 200 million people on social. The team ran a missed call campaign that garnered over 2,000 missed calls.
The installation is now being outfitted with new filters and will be sent to other cities throughout India, to continue to raise awareness in some of the most polluted areas in the country. The HEPA filters from the original installation in Delhi are currently being analyzed by scientists.
for Equity & Evidence