DE&I Forced Mother's Day
We created a new holiday that none of us want to celebrate: Forced Mother’s Day
Less than a week before Mother’s Day 2022, news broke that the U.S. Supreme Court was going to overturn abortion rights in America despite 69% of Americans wanting abortion rights to remain intact as they had been for almost 50 years.
The U.S. Congress could change the law at a national level. But in the meantime, the battle was going to be primarily fought in state legislatures. At least 26 states were certain or likely to ban abortion outright.
The news — and the timing — infuriated people.
Approach: We helped people send cards
We helped people send cards
Rapid social listening showed that women were furious about losing the right to choose if and when to have children. Many reflected on the impending Mother’s Day holiday with anger and grief, saying that it felt hollow and even morbid to celebrate something they would soon be forced to do.
In less than 72 hours, we launched ForcedMothersDay.com.
This website helped people look up their government representatives and send them a Happy Forced Mother’s Day card on social media or by mail.
The website linked out to ProChoice Majority, whose bracelets fundraise for pro-choice organizations. Plus, we included other advocacy groups and events where people could get involved.
To spread the word, we used PR, social media and Mother’s Day banner ads.
Results
Within 24 hours, thousands of people visited ForcedMothersDay.com and sent cards to their government representatives.
The campaign had a 97% positive sentiment across social and a 10% social engagement rate. That’s 15 times Instagram’s average engagement rate (0.67%) and 270 times Twitter’s average rate (0.037%), according to RivalIQ’s 2022 Social Media Industry Benchmark Report.
And while the battle over abortion continues, many states quickly took measures to strengthen the right to choose.