Water Safety New Zealand partnered with the ACC and launched a campaign aimed at young people to help spread water safety awareness and cut down on their very high drowning toll. The campaign emerged on Instagram and followed the unsafe beach adventures of The Swim Reaper. The deadly figure hung out at various swimming spots around New Zealand over the summer. With a dark sense of humor, the reaper actually saved lives by pointing out and encouraging foolish things that people could do around water.
Water can turn deadly when people make bad calls in the water – The Swim Reaper is a reminder of this – danger lurks everywhere. He’s a character you definitely don’t want to meet and this campaign aims to make young people stop and think before they make bad decisions with potentially deadly consequences.
Most drownings are preventable if people think about water safety first. New Zealand averages around 80 preventable drowning deaths a year. The Swim Reaper campaign is designed to try to bring that number down by targeting an at risk group in an arresting and hard-hitting way.
