Censored Tweet
Amnesty International
Issue 27 | June 2013
Agency
DM9 Rio
Creative Team
Creative Directors Alvaro Rodrigues Diogo Mello Creatives Guilherme Cunha Ana Novis Konjedic Leonardo Rafael Ferrer Rodrigo Dorfman Igor Quintella
Production Team
Project Manager Anderson Passos Producer Cabana Criacao
Other Credits
Clients Atila Roque Rio Soledad Dominguez Thais Herdy
Date
February 2013
Background
After a ten-year absence, Amnesty International had opened up an office in Brazil. They wanted to raise awareness of their return through a campaign about the issues of “freedom of expression”.
In 2012, the United Nations had declared that access to the internet is a basic human right. It had had a profound effect on the uprisings and the outcomes of the Arab Spring. However, in several countries censorship is a problem.
Idea
The Censored Tweet was exactly that. It was an app which allowed people to tweet black bars, as if the words in their tweet were being censored.
At the end of the tweet there was a link, which took the viewer to www.tweetcensurado.com.br where they could find out more in any one of five languages and send a censored tweet themselves. There was also a link to Amnesty’s main website in Brazil.
Results
People in 115 countries had sent a censored tweet within three weeks of the campaign launch, reaching more than
10 million people around the world, including many in countries such as China, Pakistan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Egypt, and Vietnam, where freedom of expression is curtailed.
Our Thoughts
Let’s be honest. This idea is hardly going to open up repressive regimes to free speech, is it? But as a simple way of getting people to feel they are world citizens and can make a difference, it is a nifty bit of brand communication for Amnesty, spreading the message that the organisation is out there, defending human rights as and where they are being trampled.