For 27 years, “Your Weekend” – one of Poland longest running and most read adult magazines, reduced women to sex objects. So when it was put up for sale, Gazeta.pl, VMLY&R, MasterCard, PNB Paribas and Wavemaker global, bought it, to shut it down.
“For 27 years, “Your Weekend” – one of Poland longest running and most read adult magazines, reduced women to sex objects.
In December 2018, when it was up for sale, we bought it immediately and used it to challenge the culture of sexism and gender inequality it had contributed to building. We transformed Your Weekend in a conversation-sparking, ground-breaking magazine promoting diverse and progressive narratives of femininity.”
The advertising agency, teamed up Gazeta.pl, its client and leading Polish news portal, with Mastercard and BNP Paribas: two brands with a long-term commitment to empower women, to create this last issue.
“We published it on International Women’s Day. We kept the regular sections and columns but reimagined the content around sexual education, gender portrayal, equal rights, sexism and more. It was the symbolic end of an era and a spectacular beginning for a much-needed national conversation.
The people we wanted to engage were not rejecting the topic, but thought that it was an issue which didn’t affect them. We didn’t want to judge anyone or to instruct. Our aim was to show the perspective of women, and by that to make people realise that we all live in a society which is not equal.
“Our primary target audience were middle-class men who were brought up on the magazine’s biased portrayal of women. This target group and our willingness to ignite nationwide conversation about the problem made media planning focus on digital and social media.”
The online edition of the magazine was the best selling e-magazine in Poland of March 2019
Projected offline sales make it the best selling issue of Your Weekend in 10 years.
“But most of all we transformed a vehicle for objectifying women into a platform for education gender equality.”
Via Wavemaker Global
