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#UnExaminable
Agency DDB Romania / Bucharest + Media Investment / Bucharest + Porter Novelli / Bucharest + Abis Studio / Bucharest
Category
Film
Annual ID
OS23_HW024B
About the Work
Although condemned by WHO as a violation of human rights, virginity testing is still performed in Romania in legal-forensic facilities. For a small fee, the exam can still be performed at the request of parents who want to test their daughters. In 2019, these tests accounted for 2% of all examinations carried out by the National Forensic Institute, which means around 1.000 tests annually.
#UnExaminable managed to talk about this centuries-old traumatizing issue for women in Romania: virginity testing, that’s still legal, although it’s a violation of human rights. By highjacking the national high-school examinations and drawing a parallel to the „two-fingers” exam. The campaign is focused on an emotional video, which draws a parallel between the baccalaureate exam and virginity exams, in order to outlaw them. The video urges people to sign a petition aimed at removing these tests from the legislation.
#UnExaminable turned into a social movement overnight, gathering over 20k signatures in the first two days alone and being picked up by all major TV news. After the petition gathered over 43k signatures, a small gathering of supporters took place in front of the Government to protest these tests. The campaign also got picked up in pop-culture contexts such as generating a whole debate on Reddit, getting a satiric nod in Times New Roman (Romania’s equivalent of The Onion) and an illustrator even draw an unofficial poster for the movie.
Most importantly, #UnExaminable managed to change a law in just 5 days after the launch: lawmakers eliminated virginity testing in the largest unit in the country. The Minister of Family applauded this decision and encouraged other medical units to follow through.
2023 Awards
Total Points: 9
Bronze Pencil
Credits
Agency
DDB Romania / Bucharest
PR / Marketing Agency
Porter Novelli / Bucharest
Production Company
Abis Studio / Bucharest
Media Distribution Company
Media Investment / Bucharest
Executive Creative Director
Roxana Nita
Senior Art Director
Ana Tanasa
Senior Copywriter
Alexandru Iliescu
Managing director
Roxana Tampau
Managing Partner
Roxana Memetea
Senior Account Executive
Andreea Boiangiu
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