Would You Give Your Jacket to Johannes? The Oslo Bus Stop Experiment

In February 2014, an 11-year-old boy named Johannes sat alone at a snowy bus stop in Oslo in a thin top and no jacket, telling passers-by that his coat had been stolen. A hidden camera filmed what strangers did next. The film, "Would you give your jacket to Johannes?", was made by SOS Children's Villages Norway to raise money for Syrian children facing winter, and it became the biggest viral campaign ever to come out of Norway.

The bus stop experiment in Oslo

The film was shot over two days at a bus stop near St. Hanshaugen park in Oslo. Johannes Lønnestad Flaaten sat there on and off while a hidden camera recorded the reactions. According to The Local, dozens of people stopped, and only three made no effort to help.

Most of those who stopped talked to him, asked what had happened and tried to help, several by offering him a jacket. "There were so many nice people," Johannes said afterwards.

The Syria appeal behind the film

The point of the film was not Oslo, but Syria. As the Syrian civil war forced families from their homes, SOS Children's Villages was helping Syrian children and families survive the winter with warm clothing, blankets, equipment, food and water, and child-friendly spaces that offered play and psychological support.

"It's a campaign to raise awareness of people in Syria," said Synne Rønning, head of information at SOS-barnebyer, the Norwegian branch. Her message was that people should care about Syrian children as much as they cared about the boy at the bus stop. Rønning later described the film as "an eye opener": people who watched it asked themselves, "What would I do?"

Was Johannes safe in the cold?

Some viewers worried about the boy. The charity explained that Johannes volunteered, that his family were already sponsors of SOS Children's Villages, and that he was not harmed by the cold. He was also paid a small fee for taking part. The campaign was created with the Norwegian agency Släger Kommunikasjon as part of the SOS Mayday action network.

Results of the "Would you give your jacket" campaign

The figures were remarkable for a small country's charity appeal:

• more than 13 million views of the video
• over 800 articles, plus television and radio coverage
• a fundraising target of NOK 200,000, beaten more than tenfold
• enough money raised for more than 26,000 jackets

The video ended with a request for text-message donations. That appeal has long closed, but SOS Children's Villages still works in more than 130 countries. The organisation was founded in 1949 by Hermann Gmeiner, who opened its first village in Imst, in the Austrian Tyrol.

For another winter bus stop campaign, see Duracell’s Montreal Bus Shelter: Warmth as a Cooperative Campaign, and for a creative project with practical support behind it, The Tutu Project: Bob and Linda Carey’s Shared Photographic Story.

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Sources