47% of eligible Americans (over 100 million people) chose not to vote in the 2016 election. If “Did Not Vote” had been a candidate in the 2016 Presidential Election, they would’ve won in a historic landslide.

Our objective was to create an activation that would provide an incentive for people to get out and vote, and to reach the widest swath of the electorate possible.

Pornhub’s brief was to create a campaign that would earn them mainstream media coverage. The brand has a history of brand actions around philanthropic causes, so this campaign appealed to them both as a way to be part of the conversation around this historic election, and as an opportunity to make a positive impact.

In 2016, over 100 million eligible US voters had zero fucks to give about the election. In 2020, to encourage everyone to get off the couch and to the polling places, we knew we needed to hit them where it hurts—their pants.

For the Give a F**k, Get a F**k activation, Pornhub announced that they would shut out non-voters on election day, with access granted only to those who’d voted. No vote, no porn.

As the idea built momentum over social media leading up to the election, it caused buzz—and in some cases panic—over the impending porn blackout, prompting good social conversation and avid voting.

This campaign had a dead simple message: no vote, no porn. It was so simple that it could be easily picked up and reinterpreted by porn stars in their own words, on their own social media channels.

According to Purnhub's insights page, the website reaches pretty much everyone, across all social, gender, geographic, and political barriers. So working with Pornhub and their community of performers gave us a unique access to our target audience of eligible voters.

Give a F**k, Get a F**k was released into the world as a social campaign and press release, and organically became a trending topic in the press and on Twitter among Pornhub’s community and voters at large.

In the week before the November 3, 2020 presidential election, the campaign kicked off with a press release announcing that Pornhub.com would be closed to all non-voters.

The social media component of the campaign consisted of a campaign video and DIY self-shot videos by 21 of Pornhub’s most popular US-based performers, delivering the campaign message their own words.

During the week leading up to Election Day, the videos began appearing on performers’ social channels, and then were reposted on Pornhub’s, building to a full takeover of Pornhub’s Instagram beginning the weekend before the election.

On Election Day, the homepage of Pornhub.com was blocked by a Give a F**k, Get a F**k modal, forcing users to confirm that they had voted before they could gain access to the site.

Pornhub’s objective was to gain coverage in mainstream pop culture. As such, the campaign exceeded their expectations and became part of the overall story of the 2020 election.

Give a F**k, Get a F**k was covered in 69 news stories in 19 countries and on 8 TV/radio programs—a moment of lightness during a turbulent election cycle.

Twitter response was enthusiastic and colorful—expressing either appreciation for the idea or fear of being shut out of Pornhub. The campaign earned 12,878,000 social impressions.

The majority of the campaign took place on Instagram stories, where likes and comments are disabled. Where it was reposted on Instagram feeds and Twitter, the audience reacted with 65K+ likes and 1300+ comments.

On Election Day 2020, 23M more voters participated than in 2016, with participation of eligible voters increasing by 12%. Voter turnout was the highest in 120 years, at 66.7%.