Prepare Your Child for School & Buy Them a Bulletproof Vest

While hundreds of thousands of US citizens took to the streets this weekend to protest against current gun control laws, a group of adlanders have pooled their time and resources on a clever campaign to rally support for change.

A team of creatives, strategists and account people from multiple agencies including Jason Murray of Y&R New York, Yugendu Vyas and Caleb Couturie of 180 LA, and Chris Puma of Huge, have launched an interactive website, Bulletproof Junior, which purports to sell bullet-proof vests designed for kids to wear at school, to ensure they're adequately prepared in the event of a shooting.  

Sold under the heading 'Armory' and priced upwards of $1,000, the vests come in three sizes – toddler, pre-teen, and teen – to represent the array of students that have been killed in American schools, from kindergarteners at Sandy Hook to teenagers at Stoneman Douglas High School.

The bullet and blade-proof vests have pockets for school supplies, and they even come equipped with the ability to glow in the dark and play nursery rhymes ("to soothe your child's pounding heart rate").

The site's “Our Story” page reads:  “A need for our country’s youth to live, and be educated, without worry. Our legislators have made it abundantly clear that school shootings are simply an American standard. With that in mind we made a decision to turn a lack of action into a mass-produced, style-oriented, reaction. Our products are made purposefully to protect future students of all ages from bullets, backfire and debris, all while maintaining a functional and fashionable design.”

It might sound far-fetched, but equipping schoolchildren with bulletproof vests could soon become a reality if, as Trump has suggested, the US begins arming teachers with guns and automatic weapons continue to be sold.

American students protesting current gun laws

But the BulletProof Junior website is not just an ironic comment on the current state of school systems and domestic terror in the US; it offers a way to take action as well. When a user clicks “buy” under one of the vests, a pop-up appears where the user can enter their zip code, and an automated tweet at your local senators is drafted, demanding policy change and urging lawmakers to take a stand for the victims of school shootings with the hashtag #NeverAgain.

Example of the pre-drafted tweet to senators

“By showing children in bulletproof vests, we’re able to capture the catastrophic problem this country is facing in a visually arresting manner,” say the website's creators. “We propose that change begins with elected officials who have the power to control legislation regarding gun control, mental health funding, and emergency preparedness funding for schools. Sadly, this issue is not being taken seriously enough by legislators, which is why we took it upon ourselves to create Bulletproof Junior.”