This Holocaust Museum Ad Will Make You Smile

The creative director looked up and said, ”I never thought I’d see ads for a Holocaust Museum that would make me smile. Good work”

Below is spec work I did a long time ago for the US Holocaust Museum in DC.

The brief was to create a campaign that combated Holocaust denial by encouraging people to visit the museum.

It’s a hard thing to think about, but Holocaust denial is on the rise again.

And soon there will be no eyewitnesses left to refute it.

The catch was that we couldn’t respond to Holocaust denial with overly sad and horrific thoughts and images.

The idea for the campaign came while watching a video of a Holocaust survivor speaking at a high school.

When one of the kids asked her what she thought about Holocaust deniers she said, ”I don’t know what to say to that, but I hear that Elvis is giving a concert next door.”

Everyone laughed.

Then, like boss, she went right on to the next question.

As the grandchild of Holocaust survivors I thought that was very powerful.

So I created these ads.