For the third consecutive year, Poland ranks last in the Contraception Policy Atlas Europe. The number of HIV cases in Poland has doubled in the last decade.
At the same time, instead of prioritizing student’s health and enabling independent sexual education classes in schools, the Polish educational system prioritizes classical values and art, urging schools to take students to art museums across Poland.
We have found a way to bypass the restrictions of the Polish education system by transforming 100 paintings from major Polish museums into sex education medium. Through the use of Augmented Reality, we provided contextually related educational content, in a new and interactive way in a country notorious for its resistance to progressive reforms. By simply visiting the Durex website, pointing a camera at the painting, and scanning it, every student can receive content in a straightforward and easy-to-digest format. This way the lessons designed to teach conservative values became an opportunity for 2 million teenagers visiting museums every semester to access reliable sex education.
The campaign gathered significant media attention, reaching over 19 million within the initial weeks, out of which 15 477 207 were attributed to earned media. Despite SoMe campaign obstacles (blocked assets, influencers’ shadow ban), Durex reached half of 15-18-year-old population in Poland (over 920k). With The Art of SexEd, Durex can provide reliable sexual education to approximately 2 million teenagers who visit Polish museums every semester. The website had 402 079 user-generated page views in the first three weeks, with an average of 21 pages per session, and an impressive 3 minutes 37 seconds of content exploration, despite the youths' low attention span. The numbers are growing due to the ongoing surge in educational trips in Polish schools. The campaign effectively engaged young people to take action for their own sexual health by signing a petition – during the first week it has already garnered 1630 signatures and the numbers continue to grow. The campaign was awarded Bronze Lion in Cannes and 4 KTR Swords (3x Silver, 1x Bronze).