Yard NYC’s work about female empowerment also includes Athleta’s campaign for gymnast Simone Biles’ clothing collection.
A new Halloween-inspired campaign from creative agency Yard NYC takes a jab at the overturning of Roe v. Wade this past summer.
The female-led agency has reimagined six classic horror films with comedic plays on their titles, plots and poster designs. Poster titles include “Rosemary’s Abortion,” “The Texas Female Massacre” and “CARRIE to Term,” all emphasizing that horror movies are much scarier when they mirror real life.
One poster, “I Know What You Did This Summer,” features the images and names of the U.S. Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade.
“We certainly as an agency felt like we’re living in a horror movie and a very scary one,” said Yard NYC’s CEO and co-founder, Ruth Bernstein. “Particularly with the overturning of Roe vs. Wade, we just wanted to do something. So as we look toward November [and] the midterm elections, which is close to Halloween, everything just started to come together.”
Also: How the abortion ruling transformed midterm political advertising
The posters took several weeks to create, with the agency’s creative team choosing about half of its original ideas, according to Bernstein.
“We looked closely at classic horror movie posters and dived into some pretty scary facts around abortion rates and how they’re being targeted and challenged across the nation,” said Bernstein. “What we found is that when abortion just becomes a political issue, the personal gets taken out of it. And actually, you can find much more of that sort of emotional connection if it’s not just done in one way. Each of these [posters] represents a different way into the issue.”
The independent agency has previously created campaigns about female empowerment, including a series of Athleta campaigns such as “Women Run,” “All Powerful” and “Because I Can” for gymnast Simone Biles’ clothing collection.
The posters go up starting today across New York City through Halloween. The campaign will be housed on the website www.stopthehorror.net, which will link to vote.org to find polling places and provide the option to donate to support women’s reproductive rights. Ads will also be shared on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.
