Impact BBDO

Client: UN Women
Product: UN Women
Title: Child Wedding Cards
Media: Direct Mail
Country: Pakistan
Date Of Campaign: 24 January 2022

Background: Pakistan has the 6th highest number of girls married before the age of 18 in the world. According to UNICEF, the country has nearly 19 million child brides. The UN children's agency estimates that around 4.6 million were married before the age of 15 and 18.9 million before they turned 18.Across Pakistan, civil society has been at the forefront of fighting to end child marriage, pushing for tougher laws and working closely with communities, authorities and religious groups to change attitudes.A DAWN report suggested that "In Pakistan, there are various other causes of child marriages, the most prevalent being weak legislation to ensure implementation of existing laws."Most efforts get blocked by Islamic courts and by hardline backers.

Idea: To motivate lawmakers to pass a bill protecting children from child marriage, UN Women chose to target leaders with a direct mail campaign.Members of the National Assembly of Pakistan received an invitation to a fictional child's wedding. Through a wedding card that would suit a child's wedding, designed entirely by children.We invited dozens of young girls, ranging in age from 5 to 15, from all socio-economic backgrounds, and allowed them to freely draw and sketch. One of the girls that contributed was even an actual child bride.We then took a number of the designs and sketches and combined them to form six chosen wedding cards, each reflecting a different area of the country.These were then dispatched directly to Members of the National Assembly, and other leaders and influencers in the country.A short film explaining the idea accompanied with social posts was also launched.

Results: We succeeded in reaching our target audience, receiving an almost immediate response from Members of Parliament, who chose to give statements holding the wedding cards, and asking other lawmakers to join them in the fight against child marriages.More than a dozen lawmakers have so far joined our cause. In a session at the National Assembly of Pakistan, leaders held up the Child Wedding Cards to demand a law be put into place to raise the minimum marriageable age to 18.On March 7, diverting from past tradition, the Federal Islamic Court has made a landmark judgment that a minimum age of 18 for marriage is not against the injections of Islam, paving the way for the state to raise the minimum age.