Barnardo’s heartbreaking cost-of-living commercial

Created by Don't Panic and tenderly directed by Outsider duo DOM&NIC for children’s charity Barnardo’s, this touching film, titled Mollusc, depicts the emotionally crushing day-to-day experiences of a 10-year-old British girl impacted by the cost-of-living crisis. 

Beautifully-crafted and sensitively shot on 16mm, the spot captures the disconnection the protagonist feels from her peers through the visual metaphor of a giant, 3D printed sea-snail shell, which cuts her off from the world around her. 

Making the film all the more affecting is the highly impactful performance from the protagonist, who expresses heartrending emotions through the most subtle movements of her oversized exoskeleton. 

Ada Rose, creative at Don’t Panic adds “The shell metaphor is a simple one but it captures so many complex and challenging experiences, and the more we worked with the frontline team at Barnardo’s the more resonant it became. It’s about dissociation, not being able to access resources, carrying shame, poor mental health and feeling you have to hide who you are. It’s so important that we recognise how all of these can be part of childrens’ and families’ experiences of poverty.”