Animal Strike

The challenge

The Affinity Foundation works to combat animal abandonment, a problem that affects over 170,000 dogs and cats in Spain each year. For World Animal Day, they asked us to create a campaign capable of raising awareness about this issue and generating massive impact.

The idea

Big changes are born from social movements. But what if dogs and cats could raise their voices too? On October 4th, 2019, we called for the first-ever animal strike in history.

The execution

On that day, thousands of pets “disappeared” from social media as a form of protest against abandonment. Instead of the usual cute photos, users shared images of their animals with their backs to the camera— a symbolic, simple, and powerful gesture that filled Instagram with absences.

The results

→ 8,217 animals joined the strike in a single day
→ Over 70,000 positive comments and interactions
→ 18 million impressions
→ #AnimalStrike became a trending topic
→ The protest gained support from public figures… and even competing brands
→ Since then, the strike is repeated every October 4th