Chicago teens riff on 'Love Island,' 'aura' trend to pitch campaigns pushing peers to put down guns
<p>Dozens of nervous teens packed a downtown conference room this week to pitch a panel of city officials and civic leaders on social media campaigns they’ve spent the summer developing.</p><p>The messaging of their campaigns was the same: get teens to put down their guns.</p><p>But they took different approaches.</p><p>One team riffed on the slang term “aura,” used by members of Generation Alpha to describe someone’s vibe, as a way to convince their peers that there’s nothing cool about guns.</p><p>Other teams borrowed from the popular reality dating show “Love Island” to present skits in which “islanders” voted out participants who owned guns.</p><p>But it was a campaign called <a class="Link" href="https://www.canva.com/design/DAHQxzdklLk/yCimBXg1veHL7Wute2klYA/edit" target="_blank" ><u>T.R.A.P.</u></a> that emerged victorious on Thursday. It urged teens not to fall for the trap of believing that they’d be safer with a gun, citing research that shows firearm owners are more likely to get shot.</p><p>One of their “spring cleaning” skits depicted teens cleaning out their rooms at the behest of their parents, tossing out everything from old clothes to guns.</p><p>Judge Cherie Animashaun, founder of the Her Rising Initiative, said she circled the T.R.A.P.
Reported by 1 outlet — Chicago Sun-Times. See all sources ↓
<p>Dozens of nervous teens packed a downtown conference room this week to pitch a panel of city officials and civic leaders on social media campaigns they’ve spent the summer developing.</p><p>The messaging of their campaigns was the same: get teens to put down their guns.</p><p>But they took different approaches.</p><p>One team riffed on the slang term “aura,” used by members of Generation Alpha to describe someone’s vibe, as a way to convince their peers that there’s nothing cool about guns.</p><p>Other teams borrowed from the popular reality dating show “Love Island” to present skits in which “islanders” voted out participants who owned guns.</p><p>But it was a campaign called <a class="Link" href="https://www.canva.com/design/DAHQxzdklLk/yCimBXg1veHL7Wute2klYA/edit" target="_blank" ><u>T.R.A.P.</u></a> that emerged victorious on Thursday. It urged teens not to fall for the trap of believing that they’d be safer with a gun, citing research that shows firearm owners are more likely to get shot.</p><p>One of their “spring cleaning” skits depicted teens cleaning out their rooms at the behest of their parents, tossing out everything from old clothes to guns.</p><p>Judge Cherie Animashaun, founder of the Her Rising Initiative, said she circled the T.R.A.P. team’s name in her notebook as soon as they took to the podium.</p><div class="Enhancement" data-align-center> <div class="Enhancement-item" data-crop=""> <figure class="Figure"><a class="AnchorLink" id="image-930000" name="image-930000"></a> <picture data-crop="medium"> <source type="image/webp" width="490" height="275" data-srcset="https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/5861e5d/2147483647/strip/true/crop/6122x3436+0+324/resize/490x275!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Fe5%2F18%2F7e521b284fc883460fa0dd3b840a%2Fantiguncontest-260801-01-2.jpg 1x,https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/60ab4d3/2147483647/strip/true/crop/6122x3436+0+324/resize/980x550!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Fe5%2F18%2F7e521b284fc883460fa0dd3b840a%2Fantiguncontest-260801-01-2.jpg 2x" data-lazy-load="true" srcset="data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZlcnNpb249IjEuMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIyNzVweCIgd2lkdGg9IjQ5MHB4Ij48L3N2Zz4=" /> <source width="490" height="275" data-srcset="https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/9f05acb/2147483647/strip/true/crop/6122x3436+0+324/resize/490x275!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Fe5%2F18%2F7e521b284fc883460fa0dd3b840a%2Fantiguncontest-260801-01-2.jpg" data-lazy-load="true" srcset="data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZlcnNpb249IjEuMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIyNzVweCIgd2lkdGg9IjQ5MHB4Ij48L3N2Zz4=" /> <img class="Image" alt="Cherie Animashaun, founder of Her Rising Initiative and Project Unloaded Youth Council alumna, gives comment during the presentation and judging of social media campaigns for Project Unloaded at the offices Havas Chicago at 24 E. in the Loop, Thursday, July 30, 2026.
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- What's the story?
- <p>Dozens of nervous teens packed a downtown conference room this week to pitch a panel of city officials and civic leaders on social media campaigns they’ve spent the summer developing.</p><p>The messaging of their campaigns was the same: get teens to put down their guns.</p><p>But they took different approaches.</p><p>One team riffed on the slang term “aura,” used by members of Generation Alpha to describe someone’s vibe, as a way to convince their peers that there’s nothing cool about guns.</p><p>Other teams borrowed from the popular reality dating show “Love Island” to present skits in which “islanders” voted out participants who owned guns.</p><p>But it was a campaign called <a class="Link" href="https://www.canva.com/design/DAHQxzdklLk/yCimBXg1veHL7Wute2klYA/edit" target="_blank" ><u>T.R.A.P.</u></a> that emerged victorious on Thursday. It urged teens not to fall for the trap of believing that they’d be safer with a gun, citing research that shows firearm owners are more likely to get shot.</p><p>One of their “spring cleaning” skits depicted teens cleaning out their rooms at the behest of their parents, tossing out everything from old clothes to guns.</p><p>Judge Cherie Animashaun, founder of the Her Rising Initiative, said she circled the T.R.A.P.
- How widely is it covered?
- 1 outlet, average source rating 6.0/10.
- When was it last updated?
- 16h ago.
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Chicago teens riff on 'Love Island,' 'aura' trend to pitch campaigns pushing peers to put down guns
Sources1TypeCoverageChicago Sun-Times