Social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram strictly prohibit the display of female nipples. On International Women’s Day 2016, 17 brave women challenged these restrictions. They each bared a naked breast on Facebook and Instagram, urging all women to “Check it before it’s removed”.

Pink Ribbon Germany, together with female social influencers, shared the pictures with their online communities on Facebook and Instagram. National and international celebrities, singers, bloggers and athletes shared the pictures with millions of their followers, encouraging them to quickly re-share the posts before they were censored by moderators.

In a matter of hours, Facebook and Instagram began deleting the posts. But as the pictures were removed from social media, the buzz and awareness around the story was building in mainstream media.

17 German women of varying ages and ethnicity posed for a photographer exposing one of their breasts. These pictures were then posted to Facebook and Instagram with the statement: CHECK IT BEFORE IT’S REMOVED. Each post was accompanied by text encouraging others to quickly re-share the post before it was censored – along with the hashtag #checkitearly. The post also lead the reader to the website www.checkitbeforeitsremoved.com where people could learn about breast self-examination.

Pink Ribbon Germany shared the first picture on their Facebook fan page at 9AM on March 8, International Women’s Day.

Throughout the day, national celebrities and influencers continued to share Pink Ribbon’s pictures to millions of their fans on their Facebook and Instagram pages, encouraging them to quickly re-share.

Facebook and Instagram began to remove the pictures immediately. Even Pink Ribbon themselves had their posts deleted for contravening Facebook and Instagram’s strict guidelines. And as the pictures

On International Women’s Day Pink Ribbon’s awareness message reached 29 Million contacts, the equivalent of €2.2 Million in earned media. With a media spend of 0- Euro.

On March 8, traffic to Pink Ribbon’s breast cancer awareness information increased by 27,984%.

The 3 minute breast self-examination tutorial video on the website had a 92% view-through rate.

Due to public opinion and increasing media attention, Facebook and Instagram stopped removing the posts, allowing the message to continue reaching more and more young women.

To reach our target audience of younger women, we went to a place where young women are most active – Facebook and Instagram. The very places where breasts would be removed. By triggering Facebook and Instagrams strict censorship policies, we were able to create a strong analogy and demonstrate the urgency of the issue.

Because these posts would have a very short life expectancy we needed to quickly spread the pictures far and wide with the help of social influencers: female celebrities who came together to create a viral wave of posts on International Women’s Day and activate their followers to quickly re-share before they were removed. The removal of images added fuel to the existing discussion around “free the nipple”, social censorship and gender equality – making Pink Ribbons message a strong topic in the media on International Women’s Day.

Breast cancer affects one in eight women in their lifetime. Early detection is key in fighting the disease. Pink Ribbon Germany wants to urge young women to start checking their breasts regularly.