During a working life, an average Swedish woman earns a quarter million Euro less than a man, performing the same work. Every day, she works for free after four o'clock, while he gets paid until five.

So what does a woman have to do to get a raise?

The answer is simple: be a man.

Annelie Nordström, president of Sweden’s largest union, Kommunal, decided to protest against wage discrimination by performing a “sex change”.

A video featuring Annelie´s extreme makeover spread to over 140 countries in just 5 days, reaching a peak on International Women’s Day.

Traditional PR work and some online ad support spread the word and guided to the website, which provided a simple way to conduct a quick sex change and thus enabling everybody to join the protest.

Kommunal created the largest manifestation ever of its kind against wage inequality - being featured in some of the world’s leading media outlets and creating an online buzz, the campaign reached over 200 million people.

Annelie Nordström, president of Sweden’s largest union, Kommunal, decided to protest against wage discrimination by performing a “sex change” in front of the camera. Her invitation to “BE a MAN” could be easily followed by anybody via Facebook - and mobile applications. The results were not only posted by the users, but also collected on BEaMAN.se, creating a massive manifestation against wage discrimination.

The video was pitched into major media outlets and women’s organizations with the help of press releases and a lot of handiwork, supported by seeding in blogger networks and online banners on The New York Times and FT.

Within the first 48 hours it got more than 100,000 views from over 100 countries. Fortunately, it did not stop there. The discussion initiated by the video sparked a discussion in social media, resulting in over 16,000 Twitter reactions, reaching an audience of over 3.8 million on Twitter and a total of 6.7 million across social media.

A total of 151 articles; reaching more than 195 million people. Though the real victory lies not in the numbers, but in the fact that a small campaign managed to become a global reminder of the struggle for equal pay.