Andrea Arnold Creates Her Debut Ad for The Prince’s Trust

Many a director has directed commercials in between films in order to let off a little creative steam (and/or to make a little money). To pick just a few examples, recently on shots we’ve written about the advertising work of David Lynch, Ridley Scott and Sofia Coppola. Now, American Honey, Fish Tank and Wuthering Heights director Andrea Arnold is joining the list, working with CHI&Partners and Park Pictures on a new campaign for The Prince’s Trust.

In Youth Can Do It, Arnold brings her unique eye for the everyday lives of Britain’s working class to a selection of short moments from life; a young mum plays with her baby, a young man secures his first job, and another moves into his own home. These are shot with people who have been through the things described in the voiceover, filmed in their homes with them wearing their own clothes.

According to a spokesperson, Arnold chose this as her first advert “because of her passion for youth empowerment and her belief in the determination that spurs children and adolescents on to succeed.”

One such successful adolescent is the poet whose work brings the ad together. Said in voiceover, a poem, Bulletproof, features in the ad, and was written by 16 year-old Maya Sourie [above], an award-winning poet who herself spent much of her childhood in foster care. Sourie says of her involvement in the project, “it felt extremely important to spread the message that any circumstance you may have found yourself in should never be allowed to act as a limitation, but as a way to learn and discover the power you hold within – that happiness is a mindset and begins with loving yourself for who you really are.”

The ad represents a slight change of message for the brand. This new campaign message CHI sum up as, “shin[ing] a light on the hardships some young people face, and [showing] how drive and confidence and a helping hand can empower them to rewrite their own futures and reverse these statistics;” statistics like the fact that one in five young people (18%) think they will amount to nothing no matter how hard they try.