A 2mm hole tucked inside a textbook can change a child's future / Save the Children & Santillana "Paper Glasses"

The problem

In Mexico, 75% of school dropouts are linked to vision problems. In rural areas, just getting to an eye exam is difficult, so kids fall behind in class without ever realizing they simply can't see well. In fact, an estimated 12.7% of elementary and middle school students have some kind of vision problem.

The insight

The real problem isn't poor eyesight itself—it's not knowing you have it. You can't send eye doctors out to every rural area, but textbooks are already in every child's hands. So why not build a way to notice the problem right into the textbook itself?

The idea

Save the Children teamed up with publisher Santillana to insert paper glasses right into textbooks. Made from 150-gram paper, the glasses have 2mm holes spaced 2mm apart, using a pinhole effect to focus light and sharpen vision. They're attached to the page with a tab, and the facing page carries a simple message in large text: "If things look different, tell your teacher."

What happened

In a pilot study across seven states involving 2,115 students, 29% of the children who weren't using the glasses were found to have vision problems. The glasses were distributed to 3 million schools through Santillana's distribution network, and the campaign won 2 Gold, 1 Silver, and 1 Bronze Lion at Cannes Lions 2016.

Afterthought

Whenever I hear "advertising can change society," I usually get a little skeptical. But this one is the real deal. With nothing more than paper, ink, and a few holes, thousands of children's futures can change. It's not flashy, but it's powerful. Just imagining the moment a child opens their textbook and realizes, "Oh, I can actually see now"—that alone is enough to warm your heart.

Awards

• Cannes Lions Gold 2016

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