In Mexico more than 1,200, 000 girls are forced to marriage to an older spouse. This is part of the customs and practices of many communities of the mountains. The situation is particularly pronounced in the Mexican states of Guerrero, Hidalgo, Chiapas and Oaxaca, where the rights to education, health and a life free of violence of thousands of girls are currently violated having forced into marriage, most of them sold by their parents. This leads to high levels of emotional, economic, physical, and sexual violence against the girls.

Although the figures of the problem are shocking, very few people know that this happens. That’s why the not-for-profit organization Yo quiero Yo puedo (which means “I want I can”) that has helped to fight against child marriage in our country, needed to expose the problem and looked for help to raise awareness in the cities of Mexico.

We needed to raise awareness about forced child marriage in Mexico, so we HACKED the billboards of the most popular Wedding Expo of Mexico City to give the message.

We recreated the fair’s billboard, but instead of using a model, we used a little girl. Then we place our billboard next to all the fair’s billboards in the city. With this HACK, we could give the message in a strong and clear way, on some of the busiest roads in the city.

Objective - Raise awareness about the problem of forced marriage in Mexico through the dissemination of information and testimonies in traditional and digital media.

Message - As part of its campaign against forced marriage, the non-profit organization Yo quiero Yo puedo recreated the image of a billboard belonging to a major wedding fair, replacing the photo of the woman with the picture of a little girl.

Target Audience

Key opinion leaders and influencers related to similar social causes.

General media

Media outlets focused on woman

The most famous Wedding Expo in Mexico City advertise by placing many billboards in the busiest roads. They always use a model wearing a wedding dress. So, we wanted to HACK their billboards using a little girl instead of an adult.

We didn’t know what the art was going to be like, so we waited till the Expo dropped its billboard, giving us just 1 week to execute. This time they also used a man model, and that was perfect, because we use an adult along the little girl, and the photo became more powerful. Then we place our billboard just next to the Expo’s billboard, on some of the busiest roads in the city.

While the billboard was exposed, the media started to talk about the problem, making reports specifically of forced child marriage.

Yo quiero Yo puedo, got to sign an agreement with several communities, where they agreed to support their girls.

Everyone started to talk about forced child marriage, and people begun to push the government of Mexico. One month after the billboard was out, the government approved the law of the prohibition of child marriage.