We know how hard it can be to find decent, affordable housing in New York City. Differences aside, poor people living in slums know how this feels like. Therefore, we took an apartment in Manhattan’s Union Square and turned it into a slum. We filled the place with hidden cameras, hired a fake realtor, and listed the location on the Internet. It didn’t take long for people to stop by. Our realtor showed them the apartment as nothing weird was happening. We captured their reactions, some in disgust and others in disbelief. After they tried to leave, our realtor unveiled the real reason behind the stunt, as this reality as to how many people live shocked them.

We transformed one apartment in Manhattan’s Union Square, and decorated the place by creating a real, life-size replica of a classical slum. We hid many cameras around the place to capture every angle of the situation. We hired a fake realtor named “Jasmine” who would take people inside the apartment and describe it to them as if it was a regular New York City apartment. She also explained the stunt right after. The stunt lasted for 2 days and it was reachable by our target audience living in the New York City area.

• The video reached roughly 4 million people on Facebook alone, with more than 11,000 shares and 1.2 million views. This was 12 times the client’s estimate.

• Increase of more than 40% in TECHO US Facebook fans in less than three weeks.

• 4,000 visits to zeroslums.org, Poverty Awareness Campaign’s landing page.

• The video was highlighted by TV channels Univision, Fusion, and Terra, as well as El País newspaper, NotiMex news agency, and NY1 News, among others.