Is it right that the penalty for child sexual abuse is the same as for littering?

ECPAT Sweden, an organisation fighting the child sex trade, says no. But how do you get people to speak of the unspeakable – and how do you make a voice for children heard in one of Sweden’s most chaotic general elections in recent history?

With the goal to impact the public opinion through the political agenda in the Swedish General Election, the penalty scale was the core of a campaign tailored for a digital activist era, using a digital hub, two short films and a memorable hashtag.

The campaign was activated through mainly ECPAT’s own channels and media contacts strong call-to-action PR-messaging throughout all campaign assets – from press releases to social media material to digital films and the words of ECPAT representatives in debates and media appearances.

Within a week, all communications objectives were exceeded.

The Piece of Trash Penalty campaign is now said to be the most spread in Swedish history. It also became the 8th most shared on Facebook and the most spread across all digital platforms in Sweden in 2014. But most importantly, the Minister of Justice made the issue a political priority in the general election, and a main party campaigned with it. Now Sweden has a new government where the Prime Minister has stated that it will focus on a stricter legislation regarding sex crimes.

It’s time to put the current legislation where it belongs – in the trash.

* The digital campaign films, where children's stories of child sexual abuse were told, encouraged the public to spread the films to show that they were ECPAT supporters and raise their voices against the current legislation.

* The films were published on the digital hub, and launched through ECPAT’s own channels: Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and blog.

* The campaign was further activated through media contacts and PR-tool kits.

* The second film was released three days after the first film, keeping the conversation going.

* Real-time rapid response to media reactions were used to further spread the word, for instance through Anders Pettersson, ECPAT's Executive Director, who was invited to debate the issue in several leading media house broadcasts.

After one week all communication goals were exceeded.

* The campaign became the most discussed in Swedish social media for three days. It became the 8th most shared on Facebook and most spread across all digital platforms in Sweden 2014.

* More than 500 000 people (Sweden’s population: 9,7 million) had seen the films, which topped the list of Swedish YouTube's most popular clips for several days.

* The Head of Social Media at Expressen (one of Sweden’s largest dailies) says the initiative is the most shared campaign in Swedish history.

* The Minister of Justice made the issue an election priority. A main party used it in their campaigning.

* The new Swedish government will focus on a stricter sex crime legislation.

Goal & Result (after 1 week):

Unique visitors campaign site: 20000 (goal) 58216 (result)

Campaign site shares 5000: (goal) 23763 (result)

Campaign film#1-views: 5000 (goal) 238128 (result)

Campaign film#2-views: 3000 (goal) 126631 (result)

Unique visitors ecpat.se: 3000/month (goal) 18668 (result)