Thoughts & Prayers

In the wake of the school shooting in Parkland, FL, survivors organized the largest single-day protest against gun violence in history. Millions marched on Washington in the March For Our Lives protest. Even more protested throughout the nation. They had one goal: push Congress to pass gun control legislation to prevent another tragedy.

Despite conducting some of the biggest protests and anti-gun campaigns in the world, the government failed them.

After 4 years and 170,000+ more gun deaths, not one piece of legislation has passed the Senate floor. Before the freshman class of the Parkland shooting graduated, nothing changed.

For their four-year anniversary, March For Our Lives asked us to help call out Washington’s inaction with a clear and powerful message. They needed something Congress couldn’t ignore.

Our objective:

• Create national buzz around Congressional inaction on gun violence.

• Push Washington to finally pass gun control legislation.

We spelled out “THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS” with 1,100 body bags, representing 170,00+ lives lost since the Parkland shooting, laid out across the National Mall lawn in front of Congress, so they had no choice but to see the deadly impact of their empty words.

To further spread the message, we posted a birds-eye image of the installation across social media, letting our leading advocates and influencers share the image to their followers.

That day, Founder David Hogg was invited to the White House. And we finally saw the action we’ve been demanding.

The Results:

After the launch of the installation, calls for gun reform made headlines.

• Media coverage from the Washington Post, ABC NEWS, and NowThis.

• On site boards lead to a digital petition where the public can help support the cause.

• March For Our Lives and their supporters released online films via their social media channels. Links directed netizens to donate or sign the petition to support the cause.

• March For Our Lives board member, David Hoggs, was invited to the White House to represent a push for gun reform.

• Across social media, mentions of “March For Our Lives” went up 1401.04%, mentions of “Thoughts and Prayers” rose 620.04%, and mentions of background checks saw a 458.51% increase.

• On April 8th, Biden announced an executive action on gun control.

  • Banning the sale and possession of unserialized guns

  • Making it illegal for a licensed gun dealer to sell guns with a background check.

And we did just that.