The winning campaign by Kira Chick and Nané Avedikian envisions bars of soap etched with women’s health terms that Meta, the company behind Facebook and Instagram, deems explicit.
Advertising Student Team Takes Home New Bloods International Award
Two graduate students from COM’s advertising portfolio class earned one of only eight “pencil” awards received by North American entrants this week at the D&AD New Blood Awards, one of the top international honors for advertising students.
Kira Chick and Nané Avedikian, both recent graduates of COM’s Master of Science in advertising program, won for their project, “Clean Words” for CensHERship and The Case For Her. The project envisions bars of soap etched with women’s health terms that Meta, the company behind Facebook and Instagram, deems explicit.
“The packaging exposes real facts and data showing how that term has been flagged and censored on social platforms,” they wrote in their submission. “Each bar is available for a $5 donation, with proceeds funding the purchase of Meta shares. This allows CensHERship to represent and bring real women’s stories and experiences with censorship directly to Meta’s leadership at annual shareholder meetings, giving us all a seat at the table.”
After the award, they described the most challenging part of the project: how to bring attention to women’s health censorship without burning bridges with the platforms responsible for the censorship.
“CensHERship wanted a campaign that would expose the issue but simultaneously could open the door for collaboration and ultimately earn a seat at the table with these platforms so meaningful changes could actually happen,” they explained. “That’s what led us to the piece of the campaign where every soap purchase contributed to CensHERship buying Meta shares, giving them the opportunity to engage with the company directly as shareholders and advocate for change from within at shareholder meetings.”
Their work was done as part of COM’s Portfolio II class, led by Professor of the Practice Doug Gould.
“I’m very excited for both Kira and Nané, as the project was clearly elite in thinking and execution,” Gould said. “I must also add that many BU student teams also created stellar work that came up just short. They must be celebrated as well.”
Today, Chick is a junior copywriter for David & Goliath, a national advertising agency. Avedikian is the marketing lead for G&B Global, a beverage importer, and a social media marketing specialist at McCann Armenia.
Recipients of New Blood Awards are chosen by top industry creatives from advertising, design, digital and marketing students from around the world.
