Doctors of the World is an NGO that fights for the most vulnerable people to have access to healthcare, and when we talk about vulnerable individuals, there is a group that is cruelly punished: women in prostitution. Doctors of the World had been working with these women for 30 years, facilitating their access to healthcare and promoting political changes. But for this brief, they needed something different: they needed an awareness campaign that, for the first time, focused on those individuals who pay for sex and made it clear that paying for sex is wrong.

This brief also had three fundamental objectives:

- Generate critical awareness of the issue in society.

- Raise awareness and break stereotypes.

- Shift the paradigm and informational focus of the problem.

To draw attention to the silenced issue of prostitution, we decided to intervene in the main element that normalizes prostitution in Spain: the neon signs of brothels. Striking neon signs with attractive lights and colors that are part of the landscape of cities and roads and that people have become accustomed to seeing.

So, we changed the message to surprise and tell the harsh reality they hide. There are no shows, there is violence. There is no spectacle, there is abuse. There is no desire, there is humiliation.

We produced new neon signs taking over their conventional aesthetics, but changing the messages: Violence Palace, EXXXploitation, and Abuse Show. And we installed them in the areas with the highest concentration of brothels in the country, sparking a necessary conversation nationwide.

The strategy had to be as straightforward as possible, as we were dealing with an idea that needed to reach a very broad segment of the population. That's why we decided that our primary approach to the problem would involve thoroughly understanding all the elements that normalize prostitution in our society, and once all that information was gathered, we could choose the most representative and impactful element and hack it.

After conducting that field study in which we explored various elements (common phrases, flyers, digital pop-ups...), we decided to focus on the neon signs of brothels, which, in addition to being normalized, had an aesthetic aura that creatively allowed us to capture even more attention from the public.

We designed 3 sincere neon signs, inspired by the hundreds of neon messages we found on Spanish roads.

As a non-traditional outdoor campaign, we crafted them artisanally, with the help of a neon modeling studio, which customized each design, as this style of production is not part of the conventional outdoor campaign system. We used 340 meters of neon in various colors (red, yellow, pink, and light blue) to create the silhouette of images and texts.

We installed 3 single-pole neon signs with a powerful message: Violence Palace, EXXXploitation, or Abuse Show. And strategically geolocated them where the three places with the highest demand for prostitution are concentrated. On HIGHWAY A-3 KM 10.1 entrance to Madrid, HIGHWAY A4 KM 29 exit from Madrid, and HIGHWAY A5 KM. 14.3 entrance to Madrid.

Only 3 perfectly geolocated sincere neon signs sparked conversation in the media and on social networks.

Views: 1,500,000.

Reach: 81,000,000.

Individual Users: 950,000.

Engagement: +200.18%.

PR Value: €481,000.