THE LAST EVER ISSUE

How the longest running porn magazine in Poland became a symbol of gender equality. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Gazeta.pl—a socially conscious news portal—was known for taking on the most urgent social issues in Poland. But when it came to gender equality, it was an uphill battle.

According to the Polish Ministry of Labour, women earn 18.5% less than men, and Poland scores 10 points below the EU average in the Gender Equality Index. In addition to a right-wing government and the Catholic Church suppressing sexuality, sex education isn’t taught in schools, making porn the primary source of sex education for many young men. Sex education isn’t taught in schools, making porn the primary source of A key symbol of this culture was Your Weekend, Poland’s longest running adult magazine. sex education for many young men. In December 2018, Your Weekend came up for sale. Gazeta. pl partnered with Mastercard and BNP Paribas—brands commited to empowering women—to buy Your Weekend, release one final issue and shut it down. For good.

We published on International Women’s Day, keeping the regular sections but reimagining the content around sexual education, gender portrayal, equal rights and sexism. It was the symbolic end of an era and a spectacular beginning of a gender equality conversation that was long overdue.

The Last Ever Issue was Your Weekend’s best-selling issue in 10 years, sparking a national conversation about equality and earning more than 25 million impressions. CULTURAL CONTEXT

Poland is a shitty place to be a woman.

While much of the world seemed to embrace women’s equality in the wake of the #MeToo movement, Poland was one of the few places on Earth that seemed not to notice.

According to the Polish And the right-wing member Ministry of Labour, women in of congress unabashedly Poland earn 18.5% less than claims that “women are men. weaker, smaller and less intelligent” in an open forum. A key symbol of this culture was Your Weekend — one of Poland’s longest running adult magazines — It was past time for someone to do pts➔ which reduced women to sex objects. something. But how do you bring an 10 Without formal sex education, an entire issue to the surface that the government, generation of Polish men learned about sex from Poland’s porn industry. the Catholic Church and a misogynistic Poland scores 10 points In 2015, Poland’s In 2018, a Polish public culture completely ignore? lower than the EU average in government banned service announcement for the Gender Equality Index. over-the-counter access breast cancer screening And despite all this, Jarosław Kaczyński — to the morning-after pill. explained women should an influential conservative politician — had take care of their breasts because men “like to watch the balls to claim “gender discrimination them bounce.” does not exist” in Poland. BUSINESS SITUATION

Gazeta.pl doesn’t deliver news, it delivers culture.

In stark contrast to the conservative government, Catholic Church and Polish society at large, Gazeta.pl is a fearless voice in a fearful culture. It’s mission is to change the world by initiating cultural conversation on the most urgent social topics. Nothing is off limits. Politics. Sexuality. Scandal. Despite 1 million unique visitors each day, Gazeta.pl wasn’t standing out in a crowded market like it used to. It was the challenger in the media landscape in Poland, coming in fourth behind traditional publications like WP, Onet and Interia. It needed to find a new way to engage readers that was true to its mission. We found the answer where we least Despite ongoing and earnest efforts, Gazeta.pl had yet to change the course of Poland’s ever-worsening gender expected it: in a porn magazine. equality situation. How could we illuminate the unconscious gender bias? We had to change our approach. Instead of talking about equality, we needed to demonstrate it. But how? THE STRATEGY

No campaign. No PSA. No after-school special.

We quickly learned that merely talking about equality wasn’t going to change anything. We interviewed countless young men who thought gender inequality was an issue, but didn’t see it at work in their everyday lives. Even the most progressive and well-educated men didn’t see the inequalities all around them. It was an abstract concept not obvious to them in their work, social or home life. Big campaigns on the topic simply hadn’t worked.

Our takeaway: Changing perception requires action, not ads. We couldn’t talk about it, we had to do something about it. We had to confront their apathy in a way that was impossible to ignore and in a way only Gazeta.pl could: through controversy and conversation. And for more than 50% If we wanted their attitudes to change, we had to interrupt of Polish men, that means their everyday lives. looking at porn. THE STRATEGY

We figured: If you can’t beat them, buy them.

So, in December 2018, when Your Weekend came up for sale… We bought it. THE CREATIVE IDEA

To finance such a large purchase, Gazeta.pl partnered with Mastercard and BNP Paribas — two brands with a long-term commitment to empowering women — to buy the magazine, put THE out one final issue and shut it down. For good.

LAST The Last Ever Issue challenged the established cultural norms Your Weekend had so significantly EVER contributed to building.

The cover featured an emerging writer, an inspirational ISSUE actress and a martial arts world champion. Leading Polish female photographers offered powerful positive portrayals of gender and womanhood. The regular sections were A porn magazine dedicated reimagined to spark a national conversation on equal to women’s equality. rights and sexism. And the online and social channels were transformed into powerful education platforms.

We orchestrated an impactful integrated approach, including an influencer campaign that generated 25 million media impressions. The conversation we ignited engaged the whole country and established gender inequality and sexism as issues everyone must reckon with.

The Last Ever Issue launch on International Women’s Day 2019 as a symbolic end to an era and a spectacular beginning for a much-needed change in the narrative around women in Poland. THE RESULTS

Our most impressive result is ... zero.

That’s the exact amount of impressions of Your Weekend’s objectifying content since April 8, 2019.

The campaign organically reached 4.5 million people and generated 25 million media impressions (Poland’s adult population is about 28 million), according to media monitoring services.

The Last Ever Issue content generated more than 500,000 visits to Gazeta.pl.

The campaign was mentioned by Poland’s most influential TV shows such as “Pytanie na Sniadanie” and “Szkło Kontaktowe.” It was even featured as the main story on Gazeta.pl’s biggest competitor’s news site — Onet.pl.

The online edition of the magazine was the best-selling emagazine in Poland in March 2019 (although readership of emagazines in Poland is still in its infancy).

Projected offline sales make it the best-selling issue of Your Weekend in 10 years.

But most importanly, by permanently closing down the magazine, we stopped a vehicle for objectifying women. No one should ever learn about women from a porn magazine.

THE LAST EVER ISSUE