Burma
Issue 20 | August 2011
Agency
JWT New York
Creative Team
Executive Creative Director: Andrew Clarke; Head Of Art: Aaron Padin; Art Director: Roy Wisnu; Copywriter: Chris Swift
Other Credits
Account Executive: Lindsay Gash; Art Buyers: Elizabeth Corkery, Sara Levi; Project Managers: Elaine Barker, Jessie Hoyt
Background
In 2010, Burma held its first elections in 20 years. These elections would have been meaningless if more than 2,100 political prisoners remained locked up in Burma's squalid prisons. Human Rights Watch created a campaign calling for the release of these innocent prisoners by utilizing added pressure from the public and the United Nations.
Idea
A giant installation was built at New York's Grand Central Terminal of a mock prison with 200 miniature cells and 2,000 pens in place of cell bars. Visitors could remove the pens to sign the petition and symbolically free the prisoners.
Postcards were sent to people in the New York area to raise awareness of the event and the need for action.
Results
In less than 12 hours, tens of thousands of signatures were collected from people of 86 countries. The installation attracted media from around the globe.
The petition book was sent to the United Nations' Secretary General.
Importantly, more than 150 political prisoners have since been released, including opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.