How a non-profit fought the social media giants, armed with a bunch of t-shirts

Creative idea

Meta and Microsoft banned Naisten Linja's domestic violence prevention ads under EU political content rules. While messages were banned, advertising products was not. We used the same platforms (literally the same companies, the same interfaces) to sell clothing printed with the banned messages. The creative use of social platforms here is structural: we didn't fight the ban, we used the platform's own internal contradiction as the media placement. The product listing that the algorithm allowed became more effective than the ad it replaced.

Brand name: Naisten Linja
Advertiser / client: Naisten Linja
Product / service: Naisten Linja helpline
Campaign name: The Banned Collection
Agency network: INDEPENDENT AGENCY
Agency: hasan & partners, Helsinki
Agency chief executive officer: Riku Vassinen
Chief creative officer: Riku Vassinen
Creative director: Ossi Honkanen
Art director: Antti Kaarto
Designer: Anssi Arte
Music: Epidemic Sound