By creating a unique algorithm, we let thousands of visitors calculate their offsets in the interactive “Oppression Offset”-tool. This allowed them to see their individual “autocratic footprint”. The results sparked conversations online and among journalists and engaged the audience in debates around different countries' ranking and “price”. By making the data come to life in a new way, the topic became much less abstract, and much more engaging, since the personalization showed every person their exact footprint, and how a change of destinations could change the world. This motivated people to donate, but most importantly – to learn more.

Civil Rights Defenders (CRD) is a Swedish human rights organization focusing on preventing autocratization. CRD struggles with attention, despite Sweden being a democracy-loving country. In comparison to more well-known organizations with bigger media budgets working to fight war, famine, and disease, preventive work for democracy can easily be neglected – especially in Sweden, a country that has experienced peace and freedom for hundreds of years.

The brief was to create an idea that should drive awareness for CRD, and their work, and make people understand that the threats against democracy are closer than they think.

The objectives were:

- Earned attention

- Increased awareness about CRD’s role and work

- Give Swedes a reason to care about the global democracy decline

Three cultural contexts were considered:

- Democracy for granted

- Conformity as a driver

- Christmas vacations

Sweden has lived in peace and neutrality for hundreds of years, therefore many take democracy for granted. We needed to dial up the urgency and make people realize that oppression hits closer to home than they think.

Secondly, Swedes are culturally hardwired to be good citizens – we stand in line, always on time. Many Swedes have mixed feelings about traveling – the term “flygskam” originated here. We could use conformity and the desire to do the right thing as a driver without backlash.

The campaign ran leading up to Christmas when the competition for people's attention among brands and non-profits peaks. In Sweden, it’s common to take a longer vacation during the holidays. We shed new light on travel as a culturally relevant topic that was top of mind for Swedes.

Every year Swedish tourists spend 164 mn euros in autocratic countries, a fact unknown to the travelers themselves. We wanted to show democracy-loving Swedes how they unknowingly contribute to autocratic regimes through their choices of destinations. We did it by creating an interactive tool based on a unique algorithm that allowed Swedes to calculate their own “Oppression Offset”.

The campaign assets mixed traditional travel agency stock photos of tropical paradises with headlines about censorship and torture. The mixed messaging made people look twice, feeling equally ashamed and entertained. A QR-code linked directly from the ad to the tool online to calculate their unique offset – leading to both deeper knowledge and donations.

The idea coined a whole new phrase, making it possible to discuss a previously invisible topic. It also highlighted the effects of individual travelers' choices and pressured the travel industry to be more transparent.

Swedes have become accustomed to carbon offset when traveling. But despite the concept of sustainability being extended to include human rights, the travel industry has not yet embraced the broadened definition. To bridge this gap, we created “Oppression Offset” an interactive tool based on a unique algorithm containing the length of the trip, Swedes’ average cost per day during trips abroad (based on the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth), VAT rates (data from PwC and Deloitte), and how autocratic the country is (based on V-dem’s democracy index). 

We then used the data to target travelers in train stations, airports, and on travel websites, and through creative assets show the harsh reality of their chosen destinations, encouraging them to go to the website to calculate their own unique offset.

Apart from the tool, the creative assets were created based on the top list of the most popular holiday destinations for Swedes. By calculating the offset for the most common destinations, we could create unique ads that target travelers on their way to the airport or when they were about to book a trip online to make them think twice. Every asset also led directly to the website through links or QR codes, where you could calculate your trips based on your individual travel details and then donate directly to CRD’s work for democracy.

Oppression Offset created global coverage and became Civil Rights Defenders' most shared campaign ever.

- Total reach: 39.5 million people

- Earned reach: 29 million people

Thousands of visitors calculated their own offset for different trips. The engagement spread through both traditional and social media, from Instagram to global political magazines like Politico, and local travel magazines like Vagabond.

The campaign also increased interest in CRD as an organization.

- 96% more visitors to CRD’s website

- 148% increase in the share of search (compared to the previous quarter)

The new term and tool sparked a debate on how to make ethical choices as a traveler.

This led to negotiations between CRD and the industry organization on how the tool could be used by the industry going forward. Discussions are ongoing at the time of this submission.