Human rights organization Women On Waves needed the world to become aware of misoprostol, the safe-abortion pill. Through this campaign, the lack of workers’ rights for female garment workers in sweatshops also needed to be highlighted.
Women On Waves discovered that top fashion brand Diesel buys from dodgy sweatshops. Its female workers are forced to work in hazardous conditions that pose a threat to their physical health and run a high risk of sexual harassment and rape. Women on Waves adopted The Yes Men’s approach of Identity Correction and created a hoax. From now on Diesel would champion its workers’ rights – starting with the right of autonomy over their own bodies…
Riding on the coattails of Fashion Week around the world, a press release by fashion top brand Diesel caught media attention by promising “Abortions for successful living” and directed people to a campaign website: www.dieselforwomen.com
The art direction was inspired by Fritz Lang’s Metropolis as a fashion-world parallel to the plight of the oppressed working class viewed through the eyes of Diesel’s marketing department.
I was asked to write copy for the website and tried to make it as outrageous as possible.
The news was quickly picked up by Huffington Post, Il Fatto Quotidiano, Die Standard and El Tiempo amongst others, spreading through Twitter and blogs.
