One-second-a-day videos have practically become their own art form in the past couple of years — whether the videos in question are chronicling the lives of a grown man or a newborn infant. There's even an app for that, of course. But no one-second-a-day video you've ever seen, or are likely to see, will have the impact of this ad for the charity group Save the Children UK.
The ad begins with a girl on her 8th birthday in a comfortable suburban British setting. It continues with a second's worth of each normal activity you might expect from a Western child of that age — eating a frozen treat, turning her nose up at vegetables, trying on lipstick, riding a bike, trick-or-treating.
Only the more astute will spot the bad news as it flies by in the background, such as on the front page of her father's newspaper: "Government declares martial law."
See also: Baby's First Year Beautifully Captured One Second at a Time
The rest of the video is a horror show reminiscent of the 2009 movie Children of Men, which imagined a future Britain torn apart by terrorism, refugees and a repressive government. In the end, Save the Children's point is well-made: "Just because it isn't happening here, doesn't mean it isn't happening."
The civil war in Syria has been going on for three years now, and more than 2.5 million Syrians have been forced to flee their homes in that time, according to the United Nations. Nearly all of them are being housed in refugee camps in surrounding countries. Some 10,000 children have died in the conflict. Save the Children estimates that a total of 5 million Syrian kids have been displaced or otherwise affected by the war, inside and outside the country.
See also: Out of War-Torn Syria, an Unlikely Startup Blooms
If you decide to donate after watching this video, you likely won't be alone. More than 5 million people have viewed the video since it was posted Wednesday, and have put Save the Children within shouting distance of their current, albeit modest, fundraising goal.