M&C Saatchi, anti-knife crime charity The Ben Kinsella Trust and media company Fully Focused have joined forces to create a hard-hitting campaign this Mother’s Day.

The radio campaign features Mums making emotional pleas to their sons to stop carrying a knife in the style of an audio ‘shout out’ message, asking them to give up their knife, if not for themselves, then for their mothers.

Working with youth-led media organisation Fully Focussed, the team recorded a series of real mothers who fear their sons may carry a knife, asking the boys to think of their mothers before taking a knife out this Mother’s Day.

One mother says: “This is shout out to my son. It’s your mum. The greatest gift you could give to me on Mother’s Day is just to stay safe. If you ever feel like you have to walk out of the house with a knife, just come and talk to me. I don’t want to lose my identity. I don’t want to not be a mum anymore.”

Darren Keff, creative director of M&C Saatchi, said: “Young men who carry or are considering carrying a knife are an almost impossible audience to get through to. More often than not, the one person they respect and will listen to is their mother. This Shout Out campaign gives mums the chance to make an unexpected emotional plea on Mother’s Day, not just to their own son but to all sons out there.”

The mothers’ pleas were played out as Shout Outs between regular messages from young people on underground radio stations over Mother’s Day weekend. The aim being to drive self-reflection and leave them with the impactful message: if they won’t drop the knife for themselves, do it for their mothers.