Amnesty International: Wake Up Humans

Advertising Agency: AIR Brussels, Belgium
Creative Director: Veronique Sels
Copywriter: Gregory Cliquennois
Account Manager: Pascale Pintens

Brief:
Wake up humans! 10 December 1948: 48 nations signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to protect the dignity and freedom of human beings. 60 years later: Human rights are still flouted just about everywhere. No country in the world can stand up and honestly claim to respect the declaration entirely. To awake the defender of human rights that is asleep in each and every one of us, Amnesty International Belgium created a series of experiments via hidden camera, internet, posters, direct mail and mobile phone.

Creative Execution:
The campaign’s strength lies in its credibility. The idea was to get the message across to Belgians in their everyday lives, which we tried to do by making everything look 100% authentic. The direct mail looked like an official letter, the SMS’s and emails people received looked like official warnings. In other words, people didn’t think that what they were reading was advertising, but real. This way, we reminded them that human rights should never be taken for Granted.

TV: Hidden cameras are shown on video sharing websites and on television to wake up other people's consciences with the slogan: "Human rights still need you to defend them. Wake up humans!" INTERNET: Access to the amnesty.be site is blocked and censored for subversive content likely to harm the public interest. www.lesoir.be , a leading site for information in Belgium, is also blocked and censored. SMS's, E-MAILS, POSTERS and DIRECT MAIL are also used to inform ordinary people, journalists and public opinion leaders that one or several of their rights have been or could be taken away from them.

Results:
In total, the “Wake up Humans!” campaign succeeded in waking up several thousand consciences, proving that Belgians are courageous people who are ready to get involved – not only by donating money, signing petitions and becoming members, but also by standing up and giving their most precious gift: The capacity to fight for the defence of human rights.