Ogilvy

Client: Canadian Centre for Child Protection
Product: N/A
Title: Lolli: The Exhibit Nobody Wants To Talk About
Media: Experiential
Country: Canada
Date Of Campaign: July 11, 2019

Background: The rapid growth of online content sharing platforms has made the distribution of child pornography (or CSAM) easier than ever. Every 12 hours, the Canadian Centre for Child Protection detects 10,824 new images of child sexual abuse online through Project Arachnid, an automated web crawler. In just two and a half years, Project Arachnid has detected 10,000,000+ suspected images of child sexual abuse and issued 4,000,000+ removal notices to global content providers.The removal of CSAM has been left to the discretion of the tech industry and, despite the severity of this epidemic, policy makers and the Canadian public turn a blind eye due to the uncomfortable subject matter - it’s a lot easier to ignore than engage in a conversation about child sex abuse. The Canadian Centre for Child Protection asked us to spark a conversation and ignite a sense of outrage. We needed to get the attention of the public and government and inspire them to take action.

Idea: In our research, we discovered that the term “lolli” is used as online code by child sex offenders to reference and denigrate their victims. A symbol of childhood innocence took on a disturbing meaning at Lolli: The Exhibit Nobody Wants To Talk About. A colourful display of 10,824 lollipops lined an industrial container from floor to ceiling: each one representing a new image of child pornography detected online every 12 hours. What seemed like another Instagram worthy pop-up on the exterior quickly became serious inside as the lollis, survivor testimonials, chilling stats, and sickly sweet smell became unignorable. After experiencing Lolli, visitors shared their outrage online, ultimately beginning the conversation that government officials would soon be part of. To launch Lolli, we invited national media and influencers to get a first look to spread the message behind this epidemic. Spokespeople from the Centre and Toronto Police were on-site to highlight the issue and humanize it beyond the disturbing experience. Our conversation grew louder, leading prominent local officials, such as Toronto Mayor John Tory, to pay the exhibit a visit, and have their voice heard. Following media day, we opened to the public. Over three days, 13,000 Canadians visited Lolli. National outlets such as the CBC, Global News and CityNews shot live-to-air segments and photoshoots, flooding newsfeeds. Even the New York Times rushed down a photographer to capture the experience for a three-part feature.

Results: Lolli has achieved over 4,500,000 social and 125,000,000+ earned media impressions with a 580% increase in website traffic, where people learned more about the issue and donated. Now the Canadian Centre For Child Protection has attended national conferences including an invitation to the White House to address the severity of this problem and encourage world leaders to join the fight.