Belgian campaign compares prison to the workplace

Belgian women's rights organisation ZIJkant has led its campaign on the premise that the one workplace in Belgium where men and women receive equal pay is… prison.

Created by Brussels agency Brigada, the campaign riffs on this observation to wonder: if equal pay only exists behind bars, why not commit a crime and join the workforce there?

The result is a darkly comic series of films featuring women committing increasingly ridiculous offences in pursuit of one thing that continues to elude them outside prison walls: pay equality.

The statistic is the story

The campaign transforms a dry economic reality into a thought-provoking social observation.

Viewers are confronted with an absurd premise in much the same way as Jonathan Swift proposed eating children to solve poverty.

What makes the ad more poignant, however, is its sense of restraint. Statistics can compete with emotional appeals, but not in this case.

We were also taken by the ad’s blend of gritty realism, light humour and soothing music.

Maybe we should review more Belgian ads?

Credits

Campaign: Equal Pay Prison
Organisation: ZIJkant
Agency: Brigada
Country: Belgium