If London Were Syria

The video features a young British girl experiencing the effects of a hypothetical civil war on the streets of London, by showing a second per day of her life for several days over a year, from one birthday anniversary of hers to the next. The video ends with the line "Just because it isn't happening here doesn't mean it isn't happening." It is revealed at the end that the video is based on true stories of what children living through the Syrian Civil War experienced, and highlights the work of Save the Children to improve the lives of children in Syria and around the world. == Reception ==

The ad was released on 5 March 2014. It received news coverage immediately in many UK newspapers and magazines including The Independent, Telegraph, Adweek, Al Arabiya, and the Washington Post. The coverage in the Washington Post noted that the video would only seem shocking to people who had not experienced or read closely about the lived experiences of people who had gone through civil wars, and highlighted the newspaper's profiles of refugees from civil wars. The video acquired more than 23 million views on YouTube in less than a week. The reasons for its virality were dissected by several commentators, including Fairsay and The Drum. In November 2014, American actor Ashton Kutcher posted an A Plus article about the video on his Facebook page (A Plus is a website co-founded by Kutcher, who is also Chairman of the Board). This resulted in 10 million page views of the video and made it the second most-viewed brand video of the week on YouTube. As of January 2022, the video has accumulated over 78 nearly 79 million views on YouTube. According to Don't Panic London's website, the video was featured twice on the Reddit front page, was shared 920,000 times, and caused Save the Children's YouTube channel subscriptions to increase by over 1000%. == Sequel ==

In May 2016, Save the Children released a second video, Still the Most Shocking Second a Day, depicting the same girl as she becomes separated from her mother as they flee but gain a younger boy as a companion. The girl would be eventually depicted as going through the refugee process (in France) where she lives through the hardships and the grim reality of being a refugee. Although this sequel/video isn’t as popular as the original, garnering just 8.8 million views as of December 2025 on YouTube. == Notes ==