On June 14th – 2018 the Danish parliament announced that from august 1st it will be illegal for people to wear Islamic veils in public. A law that is clearly symbolic and does nothing but alienate the Muslim minority in Denmark.

For a newspaper like Ekstra Bladet who has a long history for safeguarding the people, by holding power to account and is notorious for exposing corruption and concealed injustice, it was important to do something about it.

Only a few days after the announcement, we created a Facebook event, called ‘The longest masquerade in Denmark’. Starting on august 1st and till the law has been reversed. The masquerade works as a tool for people to freely wear whatever they want to wear, as the law states that if you’re on your way to a costume party, you’re allowed to wear head garments. A loophole the lawmakers failed to see for themselves, and the loophole we used to expose their agenda. And thus, turning a simple social media feature, into a tool for liberation.

Our starting point was to reach our readers with the message in order to get them to carry it further and create organic reach. Through organic reach we established contact with non-readers with our message to gain preference for the brand.

Three days after the announcement we launched the Facebook event along with a frontpage editorial in the paper and a spread. The following days we supported the message with print ads, that we’re made as invitations to the ball.

Citizens from all over the country, joined in protest in the streets, while wearing head garments. Famous artist, worn them in stage and fashioned designer showed their support, by making head garments part of the collections at Copenhagen Fashion Week.

20 million media impressions

Total of 20.000 people attended the event

8.000 attendants within the first week

15.000 interactions