We got Danes to draw the line at the European elections​

Task

On June 9, 2024, Danes went to the polls for the European elections. To mark the occasion, Médecins Sans Frontières wanted a digital campaign to focus on Europe’s treatment of refugees.​

The EU’s migration policies have huge humanitarian and health consequences. People get sick and are denied access to medical care at Europe’s borders. People are subjected to violent push-back, assaults and racist abuse at borders. And families are trapped in “no man’s land” between two borders and are starving. MSF is an eyewitness to these consequences of the EU’s asylum and migration policy.​

Solution

The European elections became the foundation for the digital campaign and ads. The campaign was primarily designed to inform MSF’s followers and supporters about the uncomfortable truth about the treatment of refugees at the EU’s borders – with the knock-on effect that Danes donated to MSF’s work and that Danish politicians and MEPs became aware of the problem.​

As part of the campaign, MSF changed its name to Doctors WITH Borders in the run-up to the election. This highlighted the fact that the EU limits the work of doctors and nurses by denying refugees access to medical care – a point documented in a report that they invited Danes to co-sign when it was sent to the newly elected Danish MEPs after the election.​

In addition, the campaign consisted of a full-page ad in several major newspapers, a press release, social media posts and a web platform.​

Result

With a strong call-to-action, MSF’s name change was shared far and wide on social media by influencers and opinion makers with the call to sign the report. And when the report was sent to the newly elected MEPs the day after the election, 16,087 people had signed it.​