The rapid growth of online platforms that encourage content sharing has made the distribution of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) easier than ever. Currently, the removal of CSAM has been left to the discretion of the tech industry and policymakers and the Canadian public turn a blind eye toward the uncomfortable topic. The Canadian Centre for Child Protection asked us to put pressure on industry by raising awareness of the rising global child pornography epidemic in a way that would break through and grab attention for the difficult to discuss subject, all without any paid media to support.

Every 12 hours the Canadian Centre for Child Protection (C3P) detects 10,824 new images of CSAM online.. The problem is so widespread that in 2.5 years over ten million suspected images of child sexual abuse have been found. Despite the growing online epidemic, tech organizations and government do not do enough to stop the proliferation of this devastating content. We needed to create a campaign that drove awareness of the scale of the issue in a disruptive way to enrage the public and put pressure on institutions to do more. Our challenges were then three fold as we needed to ensure we were sensitive in how we were presenting the subject matter while ensuring this resonated as a global issue relevant to North Americans as well and finally, being a charity, we had a limited budget in which to do so.

Given the sensitivity and deplorable nature of the subject matter, creating a way to communicate the impact and horror of child pornography was a unique and difficult challenge.

In our research, we discovered that the term “lolli” is used as online code by child sex offenders to reference and denigrate their victims. The lollipop became our proxy for victims of CSAM, better known as child pornography. The reality that predators use the term to discuss victims, coupled with lollipop’s inherent association with childhood innocence, made lollipops the perfect way to visually represent the issue.

Capitalizing on the trend of fun and carefree Instagrammable installations, we created a high impact visual installation designed to draw consumers into the experience, then confront them with the realities of this global epidemic. Our initiative was titled Lolli: The Exhibit Nobody Wants To Talk About.

We lined the interior of an industrial container-sized room with 10,824 lollipops: one representing each new image of child pornography detected online every 12 hours. We leveraged the highly visual installation as a dynamic backdrop to attract broadcast outlets and journalists to drive mass coverage, invited policy makers and the public to experience the truth within the exhibit and leveraged compelling yet disturbing statistics to drive awareness for the scope of the problem, all to ensure our message was heard far and wide.

To launch the exhibit, we invited media and influencers to an exclusive preview, generating buzz and starting the conversation on this horrible epidemic. Spokespeople from C3P and local police services were on-site to highlight the prominence of the issue, contextualizing the story beyond disturbing visuals. We also engaged local officials, like Toronto Mayor John Tory, to experience the exhibit, spreading the message to local policymakers. Coverage from outlets across the country started flooding newsfeeds and creating intrigue.

Following the media day, the exhibit opened to the public, immersing visitors in the scale of the problem. Staggering statistics lined the walls alongside offender verbatims. Audio recordings from survivors played inside detailing their pain and optimism for a solution. And to ensure visitors left with a deeper understanding, spokespeople from C3P were positioned at the exit to speak to their efforts and provide hope.

Over the course of three days, 1,300 Canadians visited Lolli, including the Toronto Mayor, John Tory. National news outlets such as the CBC, Global News and CityNews shot live-to-air segments and photoshoots inside Lolli. Even the New York Times rushed down a photographer to capture the experience in advance of releasing a three-part Sunday feature on this growing problem.

To date, the initiative has achieved over 4,500,000 social and 125,000,000+ earned media impressions with a 580% increase in site traffic where people learned about the issue and donated to show support.

Most importantly, the added awareness caught the attention of industry leaders and government officials, starting conversations on how we can work together to protect our children and begin the fight against this global epidemic.

The brand purpose of the Canadian Centre for Child Protection is to bravely protect Canadian Children from the most difficult situations possible; being the protectors and truth tellers for the dark reality of what is happening with our children online. In many cases, they are children’s last line of defense when it comes to these types of issues.

With that in mind, we created a remarkably brave campaign that helped to shine a light on a horrible issue that was not being talked about in the public or in the media.