Advertisement
How Hong Kong charity Mother’s Choice is using Japanese anime and an Instagram cat to help ‘break the vicious cycle’ of crisis pregnancies
- Mother’s Choice, a Hong Kong charity for pregnant girls, has launched an anime-style video featuring a cat (with a real Instagram handle) to empower young women
- Released on International Women’s Day, the video aims to give hope to girls caught in an intergenerational cycle of unplanned pregnancy, the charity’s CEO says
Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
A Japanese anime-style video shows a young girl sitting on a bedroom floor hugging her knees, homework scattered around her. She is distressed and seemingly all alone but for a cute cat that occasionally enters the frame.
But keep watching and the picture brightens with an important message of hope for teenage girls facing crisis pregnancies.
The video, with its friendly feline Backflip Kitten – for which an Instagram account has been made (@Backflip_Kitten) – is part of the latest campaign by Hong Kong charity Mother’s Choice, which helps pregnant teenagers.
Advertisement
The video was launched on International Women’s Day – March 8 – and was created by an all-female team at Hong Kong animation studio Tsui Brothers, and conceptualised by advertising firm Ogilvy. It is intended to help break the intergenerational cycle of crisis pregnancies in the city, says Alia Eyres, Mother’s Choice chief executive.
A crisis pregnancy is not just one that’s unplanned, but also one that’s unsupported, according to Eyres. And while there is less stigma around single parenting in Hong Kong than previously, more needs to be done to strengthen community networks.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Select Voice
Choose your listening speed
Get through articles 2x faster
1.25x
250 WPM
Slow
Average
Fast
1.25x