During the spring of 2022 rumours started building that the U.S. Supreme Court were going to overturn «Roe v. Wade», that had protected women’s right to abortion since 1973.

To Amnesty International, abortion rights is human rights. In the case that «Roe v. Wade» would be overturned, Amnesty therefore wanted to have a response ready. Our job was to find an idea that could mobilize people and put international pressure on U.S. state governors who still had the power to stop abortion bans.

A 90 second online film portraying four different women facing the consequences of stricter abortion laws – to the sound of a new version of «The Star-Spangled Banner», without the word free.

With a media budget close to zero, we had to create something that could resonate emotionally and be spread and shared organically.

But to reach a global audience we needed a global platform. We knew that TikTok was no longer just a platform just for fun, but also a place for self-expression and political awareness. So TikTok became our main social platform.

And then there was timing. By being ready to give an instant response

if «Roe v. Wade» was overturned, we knew that our story could connect with people on a different level. And more importantly, that we could give people a chance to turn their feelings into action by signing Amnesty's petition.

Our film went live on TikTok one hour after the news broke that «Roe v. Wade» had been overturned. And within hours it was trending on TikTok and reaching a global audience.

Another reason why we chose TikTok as our main platform was that sound was a huge part of our film idea. TikTok is by far the social platform where sound is used the most, and by using TikTok's sound function we gave our audience a tool that could help them engage with our film and create new content. The way we used this functionality was in fact integral to how the film was spread.

RESULTS (with a $0 media budget)

- More than 1 million signatures that were sent directly to U.S. state governors

- 4,5 million organic views in 3 days

- 336% increase in followers on TiKTok

- Over 1 million likes

- 15k+ comments

- Over 1300 reaction duets om TikTok