New Campaign to Support Youth Looking to Ghost Gang Life

Winnipeg, Manitoba July 31, 2025 –Violence associated with gangs, and the devastation they cause to young lives continues to plague communities throughout Manitoba.  At The Link, we work with youth to help them seek alternatives to gang life.  We are happy to launch a cutting-edge gang prevention campaign aimed at youth throughout the province, an initiative led and funded by Manitoba Justice and the Manitoba Association of Chiefs of Police (MACP) Organized Crime Committee.

The concept “Ghost Gang Life” uses a ghost icon and gritty look-and-feel to reach viewers aged 13-16 in a way they will relate to and share. A phone number at the end of each video and on every piece of marketing materials encourages viewers to send a text message to The Link; a potential lifeline for those who want help leaving gang life. The Link will provide around-the-clock responses to texts from youth sent to 204.900.6010.

“We’ve seen an increase in the number of texts to our help line since the beginning of these campaigns over two years ago and we are excited to continue to help youth,” says The Link’s CEO, Kerri Irvin-Ross. “When they’re in it, they feel like there’s no way out. We want to assure youth that there is a way out and we’re here to help,” she adds.

The latest campaign was developed with the assistance of reformed gang members to make sure the visuals and call to action were real and would resonate with this young audience. These reformed gang members provided suggestions as well as to what advertising channels to use for the campaign such as Snapchat and TikTok.

“We are constantly looking for new ways to get in front of the youth demographic that is targeted by older gang members for recruitment. We think this campaign accomplishes that and we will continue to look for new and innovative ways to get our message out there,” says Jim Mirza, Executive Director of MACP.

“We hope the message of this campaign will resonate with youth and that our efforts will continue to result in texts for help,” adds Superintendent, Jeff Asmundson Manitoba RCMP. “Every day, youth throughout our province are targeted, but we know the results of gang life are either victimization, jail time or even death,” he adds.

To reach Manitoba youth, the campaign is launching on several social platforms including SnapChat and TikTok. Additionally, campaign materials will be provided to a number of different community organizations across Manitoba who interact with youth at risk.

To view the campaign materials go to https://thelinkmb.ca/ghost-gang-life/

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