In Germany alone, 63% of women state that they have witnessed gender-specific assaults or have been affected themselves (BMFSJ). Millions of women face sexism and sexualised violence and harassment at their workplace because employers are not officially obligated to take appropriate protective and preventive action – even in 2022. Due to current scandals in Germany, the topic is attracting a lot of attention at the moment.

That is why German actress and activist Ursula Karven initiated Petition C190 – a petition aiming to enforce a law to protect against sexism in the workplace. The goal: Collect as many signatures as possible for the Petition C190 to fight discrimination against women.

Digital billboards confronted Germany with typical, sexist statements. These phrases were covered bit by bit with digital signatures of the Petition C190 until they were no longer visible. The dynamic animation showed that while a single signature doesn't hinder readability, the mass of signatures makes the statement unreadable at the end. Via QR code, people could instantly sign the petition and join the movement. Thus, the digital billboards visualise the collective power a community holds.

We wanted to provoke. So we exposed the whole country to the discriminating statements that women often have to hear at work. Our strategy: Fight sexism with sexism. The obviously sexist statements triggered in passersby – no matter if men or women – the need to make these sayings disappear.

Because every single signature of the Petition C190 counts, every person is a relevant member of the target group. That is why public spaces all over Germany were chosen to place the billboards in order to be easily accessible for everyone to sign. This prominent placement brought this important issue forward to the public and helped to raise awareness.

Each billboard displays one comment: bold, black on white, nothing to distract from the significance of a single sentence. The choice of the fragile font contrasts strongly with the destructive and heavy statement. The impact of every individual signature – each one in unique handwriting – is made clear by using them as dynamic design elements. Appearing one after another, each signature contributes to making sexism disappear.

As an advocate for female empowerment, Ursula Karven is the authentic face of the Petition C190. Since its initiation, she has embodied the cause in the media and often publicly talks about it on TV and social media. The campaign, with 1,982 digital billboards across Germany, helped to amplify her mission.

As a partner, the advertising media marketer Ströer provided all advertising spaces free of charge. With this, we were able to give the campaign maximum visibility.

The campaign reached a total of 91.6 million contacts (status: 02/28/2022). But most importantly, 100,872 signatures (status: 02/28/2022) have already been collected on change.org and amazingly the new government has even included the issue in its coalition agreement!