This campaign promotes Goal #5: achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls

This campaign moved society to ask people to sign the petition to close the illegal conversion clinics, of which many women have been victims.

We have empowered thousands of women of all ages to sign this petition.

The campaign has also improved tolerance and diversity. It has reduced inequality and moved tolerance indices in a positive way.

We know that on a larger scale, this campaign will have much more impact.

Ecuador has approximately 300 illegal conversion therapy clinics, one of the highest per capita in the world. In this clinics homosexuality is treated like a disease.

Many people have been kidnapped to be admitted and once inside they have suffered mistreatment and even torture.

This happens because 37% of Ecuadorians believe that homosexuality is not natural.

Dialogo Diverso, the largest LGBTQ rights NGO in the country thought it was time to do something about it.

Dialogo Diverso overall seeks for equality, in all of its forms.

By changing the narrative, we have discovered a fresh approach to reduce inequality.

This campaign will continue advocating for Goal #5 of the UN SDG´s, because more and more people are signing the pledge. And our intention is not to stop that.

1 illegal conversion clinic has been shut down, and 10 more are on the same situation.

Perception that "homosexuality is not natural" has reduced and is reducing as the campaign goes on.

This is a non stop initiative.

Brand values specific to the chosen goal:

Promote diversity and reduce inequality in all of its forms.

Brief:

Institutional / Awareness Campaign (March-April-May 2024)

Diálogo Diverso, an Ecuadorian LGBTIQ+ advocacy and rights NGO, is on a mission to challenge discrimination and champion equality. We need to develop a powerful campaign to put pressure on authorities to shut down illegal conversion clinics in the country.

Objectives:

· Put pressure on authorities so that at least 1 illegal clinic can be shut down.

· Educate the population and reduce by 10% de perception of "homosexuality not being natural”.

Media regulations/restrictions:

N/A

Civil liberties issues:

300 clandestine illegal conversion clinics are still running.

Thanks to the campaign illegal clinics have started to shut down.

People:

37% of Ecuadorians believe that homosexuality is not natural.

Environment:

N/A

Economic:

N/A

Peace & Justice:

People is forced to enter these illegal clinics and once inside they suffer physical and mental abuse.

Inclusivity & Partnership:

Our efforts are inclusive of all individuals regardless of gender identity. We have formed partnerships between various stakeholders such as, civil society organizations, private sector entities, and communities to promote gender equality and empower all individuals, regardless of gender, to fully participate.

For the first time in history, we use nature's lessons to fight discrimination.

We transformed Lonesome George from conservation icon, to LGBTIQ+ icon.

And with his story prove that homosexuality is a natural behavior among ALL species.

Because if it's natural in animals, is natural in humans.

We knew that the more people knew Lonesomes George's story, the more it could change people's perception.

We want to attack the problem of conversion clinics on 2 fronts:

1. Education - To reduce perception about homosexuality not considered natural

2. Pressure - for people to ask the authorities to close the illegal conversion clinics

Data gathering:

37% of Ecuadorians believe that homosexuality is not natural.

Target audience:

Ecuadorians Male / Female 18 - 50 years old

Approach:

Expose the untold story of Lonesome George to the majority of people in Ecuador.

Implementation:

· Creation of a documentary with the scientific support to prove Lonesome George's probable homosexuality

· Visual Identity of the campaign

· Website aired (sorrygeorge.org)

· Merch for sale at website

· Press conference

· Press releases

· Interviews to Dialogo Diversos spokesperson

· Media kits sent to local celebrities and influencers who quickly got on board

· Informative brochures distributed in zoos

· All of these directed people to our website where they could sign the pledge

Media channels and integration:

Influencer marketing, earned media, organic social amplification

Timeline:

From January 2024 to April 2024

Placement:

N/A

Scale:

Local - Global (225 zoos around the world signed the pledge)

Contribution to the advancement of the selected Sustainable Development Goal:

This campaign helps achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls by signing the pledge and ending illegal conversion clinics where many women and girls have been victims.

Business impact / sales / donations:

54.672 Ecuadorians signed an e-petition calling for the closure of illegal conversion clinics.

Scalability:

From local to global - 225 zoos around the world signed the pledge

Behaviour change/action:

With the campaign, the positive perception of sexual diversity as natural grew by 22%, an increase of 15 percentage points. (Gallup - Zen Research)

Legislation change/regulations:

The first illegal conversion therapy clinic was shut down, 10 more are in the same process.

Awareness/attitude shift:

The perception of homosexuality not being natural was reduced from 37% to 22%

How will this work drive progress for individuals, organizations or wider society?:

As our campaign expands, more people will understand the origin of homosexuality. Intolerance levels will drop further and continue that trend as more zoos continue to sign. In this way, more people will be impacted and society will reduce its levels of intolerance and perception of diversity.

How do you plan to scale this idea?

The campaign continues to reach more people zoos around the world.

We will continue to positively impact all zoo visitors globally.

What's next for this idea?

Making a long documentary about the life of Lonesome George to generate more global awareness and get more people to sign and join.

The carbon emissions were not measured for this work.

All the work done for this campaign was in an egalitarian environment, with 50%-50% men and women.

The work was carried out in conjunction with people from Diálogo Diverso, the largest LGBTIQ+ NGO in the country.