Life on Mars

In Brazil almost 35 million people live without treated water and around 100 million do not have access to sewage collection, according to the Sanitation Ranking, published by the Trata Brasil Institute. According to the federal government, there are 6.4 million homes that do not provide decent housing. This means that a significant part of our population lives in absolutely inhospitable conditions. On the other hand, every year people invest billions to make Mars, an inhospitable place, habitable. To alert people to this reality and encourage them to demand action from the bodies responsible, the São Paulo Public Prosecutor's Office is launching the "Life on Mars" campaign.

We often read about people and institutions spending millions to make Mars habitable, while millions of Brazilians live in subhuman conditions right here on our doorstep. This campaign aims to raise this social awareness and mobilize the population to take more effective measures to combat poverty.

Sleyman Khodor

CCO - VML Brazil

The biggest challenge is that we have 6.4 million people who don't have decent housing in Brazil. A fundamental right that enables access to other rights such as drinking water, basic sanitation, education and health, for example.

Our inspiration for this was to realize that the same scenario in which all these people live is the same as on Mars. A place that lacks electricity, housing and basic sanitation. But even millions of kilometers away, Mars is a place that continues to receive billions in investment to become a habitable place while people forget who lives on planet Earth.

The main idea is to point out that Mars is Here and all these investments can be made right here to positively transform the lives of many people.

With regard to the repercussions, we want the public and private sectors to take action and start spending all this money not just in upper-middle class places, but in places that really need it. We want society to start paying more attention and allocating resources so that people can get out of risky situations.