"If Britain were Syria." That's one of the taglines being used for a powerful new ad that's drawing attention to the Syrian civil war.
The , which was created for the organization , shows how quickly war can destroy lives, and the particular toll it takes on children. But instead of depicting scenes from the three-year-old Syrian conflict, it takes place in the U.K.
The 90-second video centres on a year in the life of a young British girl, with each second of the ad representing a different day in the year.
It opens with the girl celebrating her birthday. She happily blows out the candles on her birthday cake, while surrounded by friends and family.
As the ad progresses we see the girl going about typical day-to-day activities. She plays on a playground swing set, experiments with putting on make-up, and plays soccer with friends.
About 20 seconds into the video, the scenes begin to take an ominous turn. News broadcasts talk of "armoured clashes" and "ammunition," and planes and jets are heard in the background.
Soon the girl is being rushed into a dark basement with her family as the house lights flicker on and off.
As the ad progresses, it gets harder and harder to watch. A bomb goes off in a nearby building, and the girl is later seen running down the street wearing a gas mask.
The girl's appearance also changes throughout the ad. In one heart-breaking scene she is seen holding a clump of her own hair that has fallen out of her head.
After going through a military checkpoint and being admitted into a camp, the girl is finally seen in a makeshift hospital. Clad in a white hospital gown, she is presented with another birthday cake 鈥� this one much more humble than the last.
"Make a wish darling," her mother says.
The ad ends with the words "Just because it isn't happening here doesn't mean it isn't happening."
The description of the video asks if something like this could ever happen in the U.K. "This is what war does to children," the description says.
Last month the UN announced that the number of Syrian refugees is expected to pass 4 million by the end of 2014. This would make them the world's biggest refugee population. The UN estimates that about one-half of the 2.5 million registered Syrian refugees are children.
Since the ad was posted online on Wednesday it has received over 10.7 million hits.
