StreetDoctors cuts through the myth

Saatchi & Saatchi has partnered with StreetDoctors to launch The Fatal Question, a powerful initiative confronting the fallacy that that there is such a thing as a ‘safe’ stab wound.

This year the Office of National Statistics (ONS) revealed that police-recorded offences involving knives or sharp objectives have increased by 81 per cent over the past 10 years. In response to this, StreetDoctors' campaign investigates the false idea that someone can be stabbed without inflicting serious or fatal harm. 

The hero film, directed by Jonathan Kneebone of The Glue Society, and produced by Biscuit, follows a group of young people asked to engage with a life-sized human sculpture, pointing to areas of the body where they believed a stab wound would not be fatal. 

Correcting their misunderstandings the film draws on powerful real-life stories, including the tragic case of 10-year-old Damilola Taylor, who died following a stab wound to the thigh.

As Martin Griffiths CBE, a leading UK trauma surgeon and Clinical Director for the London Violence Reduction Programme comments: “Over the years, I’ve been asked many times, 'Where is a safe place to stab someone?'. The question reflects a dangerous common myth and highlights the pressure that young people feel to potentially carry weapons.”