Cannes Lions

UNCENSORED ARTICLES, MADE IN CHINA

MORTIERBRIGADE, Brussels / HUMO MAGAZINE / 2015

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May 3rd is International Press Freedom Day.

Western people take press freedom for granted, but in China for example, there is no press freedom to speak of.

Recently it even took a turn for the worse. When the Chinese government not only censored an article on censorship, but rewrote it completely.

The Belgian independent magazine 'Humo' wanted to stress the importance of independent journalism - one of its core values. Humo lend its 1,3 billion Chinese friends an uncensored hand.

Humo did this campaign to show their readers independent journalism is still at the core of their magazine.

Since this is quite normal for Belgian readers, Humo created a Trojan horse, making it possible for Chinese people to read a censored article. We took the uncensored version of this article that was never published in China and had it printed. In China. On T-shirts, mousepads, iPhone covers, mugs and baseball carps. All these items were media for the Chinese people who produced them.

As for our Belgian readers, we made a report on this stunt and spread that online via journalists, opinion makers and social media.

Execution

We turned a forbidden article into trendy designs and printed it on T-shirts, mousepads, iPhone covers, mugs and baseball caps.

Outcome

At first, most factories refused. But eventually we sneaked the uncensored article past the Chinese censorship and gave hundreds of Chinese printers, sowers, folders, packers and all other workers at 52 different factories to read an uncensored article. We informed reporters all over the world, who were eager to spread the campaign. It was picked up and spread by Chinese opinion makers, like Chinese artist Aiweiwei. But most important: we spread up a message of hope towards reporters in China and the rest of the world. We sensitized people on the importance of freedom of the press. And the gadgets? They were sold on the Humo website, raising funds for Reporters without Borders.

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