Missed Birthdays

After humanising missing loved ones through The Unmissables, we felt Australians were ready to have the focus shifted.

Of course, when someone disappears, all the attention is on their likeness and the details of the circumstances under which they went missing. But once it becomes long-term (beyond three months), the public’s focus needs to broaden to consider the impact on the missing loved one’s family and friends.

When someone you love is missing, their birthday is typically the hardest day of your year. You’re forced to forced to remember what the day used to be like, imagine where they are or what they might doing, and wonder if you’ll know by next year. It’s a particularly difficult day to endure.

To promote better understanding and empathy, we wanted to give Australians an insight into just how difficult marking the birthday of your missing loved one is. Over 2019-2020, Missed Birthdays gently but powerfully introduced people to the concept and impact of ambiguous loss by marking missing loved ones’ birthdays through TV commercials, billboards, radio and print advertising.