At any given time, one in three people in Gaza are living without power. Without power, families struggle to study, cook, clean, refrigerate food or heat their homes. To raise awareness of this, The International Committee of the Red Cross has teamed up with Wunderman Thompson teams in Seattle and New York on a new TikTok focused campaign.

In hopes of breaking through empathy fatigue, for this campaign The Red Cross has created a TikTok challenge ‘ #LifeInTheDark’. A challenge that invites individuals across the globe to show their skills with a twist: They have to do it in the dark; showing solidarity with Gazans who experience power outages every day. At the end of the challenge, they’ll turn on the lights to reveal how difficult it is to show off their creativity, style, and skill in the dark.

Skillsets from cooking to make-up tutorials to painting, and more are on display from a diverse group of TikTok creators who have joined the challenge. Some creators are even based in the Middle East and are experiencing the power cuts firsthand.

@kimmyskreations, a Creator-Influencer the team partnered with, who has over 2M TikTok followers said “The ICRC is bringing awareness to things that many don't know about, including myself and I thank them for making us aware! Life in the Dark is a reality for many and an issue that needs to be known!”

Creators like @fritzdoesart, @kimmyskreations, @realchadwithaj have all taken part so far and encouraged fans to post their own versions of the #LifeInTheDark challenge. Each post will send viewers to the ICRC’s official TikTok channel to learn about the real-life challenge of life in the dark.

“By taking part in the challenge, people are helping to shine a light on what is a daily struggle for most Gazans—and for many others around the world who are affected by conflict. The energy crisis in Gaza is not new. People have struggled with electricity shortages and power cuts for years. This is having a huge toll on people’s quality of life and mental and physical well-being.” explained Sébastien Carliez, the director of communications and information management at the ICRC, “We hope that this challenge brings a much-needed spotlight to the impact that the energy crisis has on Gazan families.”

The Red Cross and Wunderman Thompson hope that using the medium of TikTok will engage a wider audience, raising awareness via an engaging challenge in the hopes to overcome the purpose fatigue charities face as the world continues to face tumultuous times navigating out of the pandemic.

“What better way to raise awareness for one of the most overlooked crises in the world, than to use the world’s biggest and most visible platform. I’m incredibly proud of the team for harnessing social media for the ICRC like this. First in Fortnite with ‘LifeRun’, now on TikTok with this unique challenge. This is how you do good in 2022." added Bas Korsten, Global Chief Creative Officer at Wunderman Thompson.

To get involved and find out more please click here.