No Choice was created to bring to life the shocking fact that globally 1 in 4 women and girls cannot make fundamental decisions about their lives, their bodies, or their futures. We wanted to make people stop, think, and feel what it’s like for a woman or girl to have no control over her own life.
Around the world, millions of women and girls cannot decide who they marry, when to have children, and are denied the power to exercise their most basic sexual and reproductive health and rights. These are not abstract statistics—they are daily realities. Our objective was to translate this profound injustice into a relatable, thought-provoking film narrative for a digital-first audience, particularly Gen Z and young millennials, who are both highly engaged on social issues and native to platforms like Instagram.
The idea was simple but unsettling: take the everyday choices young people make without thinking—swiping on a dating app, picking what to watch on a streaming service, choosing what to eat, or shopping at the mall—and remove the freedom to choose. By grounding the message in ordinary moments, we aimed to break down a complex global issue into something that feels personal, forcing the viewer to confront just how suffocating having “no choice” really is.
Our goals were clear:
No Choice was designed as a wake-up call—an emotional jolt that transforms a global issue into something you can feel in your own life.
Strategy and Execution
The challenge was making a distant but global human rights crisis resonate with a young audience often overwhelmed by information and issue overload. To connect, we knew we needed to avoid heavy statistics and abstract messaging and tell a universal, visual story that cut across geography and culture.
We focused on a single statistic and asked the unsettling question: What if women had no say at all? From there, we built a creative approach designed to translate the denial of reproductive rights into experiences instantly relatable to young people in urban environments.
We focused on four everyday scenarios—dating, shopping, eating out, and streaming content. These moments, so ordinary they’re rarely questioned, became powerful metaphors when stripped of choice. The surreal, dystopian lens amplified the discomfort: menus with only one option, dating app profiles you cannot swipe, or a streaming service that decides what to watch for you. By showing freedoms disappearing in spaces where young people expect autonomy, we made the campaign feel immediate and personal.
Digital-first distribution
The campaign launched on World Population Day (11 July 2025) across UNFPA’s global website, social media channels, and UN.org, reaching audiences in more than 100 countries. Recognizing Gen Z’s digital behaviors, we tailored assets for mobile-first viewing and leveraged platform-native storytelling formats to maximize shareability. Influencers, media outlets, and partner agencies were engaged to extend reach organically, amplifying conversations around gender equality.
What makes it unique
Unlike traditional advocacy campaigns, No Choice didn’t preach—it provoked. By transforming lack of agency into lived, everyday moments, the work stood out as both bold and deeply human. The surreal style paired with digital-native storytelling made the campaign not just watchable but shareable, inviting audiences to place themselves directly in the story.
Execution highlights.
By weaving together a clear insight, a disruptive creative idea, and a digital-first execution, the video campaign transformed a global issue into a personal experience, sparking empathy, urgency, and action.
No Choice set out to make the denial of women’s rights personal, urgent, and impossible to ignore—and it delivered.
Launched globally on World Population Day (11 July 2025), it quickly became one of UNFPA’s most impactful digital campaigns to date. On Instagram, it reached 34.2 million views and more than 20,000 engagements. On Facebook, it achieved 18.7 million views and nearly 10,000 engagements, with further traction on X and other platforms, generating a total of 277 days of total watch time in just 2 months since launch date!
The campaign sparked conversation in more than 100 countries, proving its ability to cut across cultures and borders.
The campaign succeeded on three levels:
By connecting storytelling to opportunities for advocacy, No Choice helped fuel UNFPA’s mission of ensuring that every woman and girl has the power to decide.
Beyond the numbers, its greatest success lies in reframing gender equality not as someone else’s struggle, but as a universal right—and responsibility.
