One Drop Foundation is running a real-time response campaign during the G7 Summit to draw attention to the issue of clean-water access.

The international non-profit, with an assistance from creative agency VML Canada, is challenging the agenda at the global event being held in Kananaskis, Alta., with “The Unfair Glass,” a double-walled drinking glass designed with an outer layer containing contaminated water.

The design serves as a reminder that one in four people worldwide lack access to safe, clean drinking water, including many Indigenous communities in Canada.

“We created ‘The Unfair Glass’ not just as a symbol, but as a direct, undeniable experience,” says Graham Lang, chief creative officer at VML Canada, which has been working with One Drop since November. “It forces you to confront the reality that, for billions, clean water is a luxury, not a given. Our goal is to spark a conversation that leads to real change.”

Lang says “all parties acted quickly” to get the campaign’s DOOH, print and social ads up in an attempt to confront G7 leaders with the issue and reach as broad an audience as possible.

Lisa Clowery, Co-CEO of the One Drop Foundation, says the non-profit will be sharing the glasses with “influential voices around the world, inviting them to join the conversation and increase the urgency of this global crisis.”

Antoine Bécotte, ECD at VML company Taxi, tells strategy that it’s important that clean-water doesn’t get lost in the 24-hour news cycle.

“The more people discuss an issue like this, the more it stays on the agenda, and the more likely we are to come up with solutions,” he says.

The glass was originally revealed at a charity fundraiser on World Water Day in Las Vegas and the campaign features social, direct, and PR outreach. EssenceMediacom is behind the buy.

One Drop Foundation was founded in 2007 by Cirque du Soleil co-founder Guy Laliberté with a mission to create solutions to world’s water and climate issues.