A new campaign from the Daily Bread Food Bank calls out Ottawa’s new Canada Disability Benefit, and its $200 maximum monthly allowance, as insufficient for supporting real-world needs.
Created in partnership with a coalition of more than 50 anti-poverty and disability-rights organizations, the “CDB Diet” is an attempt to spark outrage and raise awareness about the daily challenges that many Canadians living with disabilities face.
Leo Design and Leo Toronto collaborated on the satirical campaign that, while positioning the “CDB Diet” as an online “viral” trend, displays the federal benefit’s shortcomings in addressing the cost of living.
Health and wellness influencers Reese Ketler, Kaila Wen, Hope Agbolosoo and Michelle Rabin were enlisted to try the “CDB Diet” and attempt to live on the less than $7 a day provided by the benefit. In a campaign video, the content creators quickly conclude that “the CDB Diet is not a diet at all.”
According to Daily Bread, 1.5 million Canadians with disabilities the age of 15 and older are living in poverty, a number that equates to one in six people in the demographic.
The campaign launched ahead of the resumption of Parliament on Sept. 15 and will run through the end of the month. The fake CDB brand includes a social presence, OOH advertising and a website with a petition calling for an increase in funding.
“The Canada Disability Benefit has a vision – to ensure that every Canadian who relies on disability benefits should not have to rely on a food bank to survive,” Daily Bread CEO Neil Hetherington said in a news release. “We’re going to continue to pressure all governments to ensure that everyone should be able to thrive in a community without a food charity.”
Daily Bread is a non-profit organization that distributes food to more than 200 programs across Toronto and advocates for affordable housing, wage increase, newcomer supports and higher social-assistance rates.
Applications for the $200-maximum Canada Disability Benefit opened in June with first payments distributed on July 17.
