In Costa Rica, 42% of the population are woman (Source: INEC and World Bank). 2.078,215 women living in a country full of taboos, creating a very conservative and traditional society. 67% of the Costaricans are Catholics, and 80% of them go to church every Sunday. The main TV channels are owned by religious man, and the content of this channels is very light and conservative, but at the same time, its double moralist: because it’s OK to see a man topless but it’s not OK to see a woman topless. This is a very big problem for Costa Rican women who over all have the second-highest breast cancer rate in Latin America. To make matters worse, the public health system is slow, taking more than a year for a woman to get a breast exam. That’s why it is critical that women learn how to perform a breast self-exam. But ¿how do we teach them when the media will not let us? Gollo, the appliance retail leader of the country decided to act. After all, 75% of its consumers are women.

On October the 1st we launched the video in Canal 7, the most important TV channel of Costa Rica, during the halftime of the Costa Rica vs. USA soccer game (prime time), reaching to more than 1.500.000 Costarican (in a country of 1.400.000 people). Due to the pressing of the censorship office the channel immediately censored the video. On October the 2nd we posted the video on Facebook, after a great response of thousands of people, the video was finally censored. On October the 4th we uploaded to YouTube, being censored the next day. From October the 6th to October the 31st we screened the video in 13.000 TV screens of our 133 stores all over the country, 8 hours a day.

-1.500.000 people, in a country of only 4.500.000 people, saw the tutorial video, (via traditional media). -#CancerSinCensura (#UncensoredCancer) became trending topic on twitter. -Costa Rica’s first lady endorsed the initiative, making the problem part of the political agenda. -The appointment in public hospitals for early detection of breast cancer increased 15% compared with the previous month of the launch of the video. -The traffic in the stores grew 11% (comparing with previous month: September 2015).

It was a cross channel strategy for October, the breast cancer month. We created a tutorial video showing a naked woman doing a self-breast exam, with the intention of being censored in various media. We generated an intentional journey of censorship for our video: TV, Facebook and YouTube. Each time the video was censored in a medium, the indignation and the anger of the people, grew, transforming our content in a cultural discussion. Unable to be shown in the any media in the country, the video was finally released in the only media that no censorship office could touch: the screens of our 133 stores across the country. The video redirected people to gollotienda.com where they could download the tutorial test and register the date of their exam, to follow up their case.

Costa Rica has, unfortunately, the second place in the region in breast cancer; this is a major health issue that most of the women are not aware (for them, close their eyes and ignore the possibility to have breast cancer is better than dealing with it). To make it worse they are not aware of how to auto evaluate and prevent it.

Gollo, Costa Rica retail leader, decided to educate and raise awareness, not only because 75% of its clients are woman but because 2 years ago Gollo has been the only retail brand of the country to openly fight for woman rights.

The objective was to create a meaningful message able to reach at least 10% of the population, to help raise the appointments in public hospitals for early detection of breast cancer.