Naisten Linja:
Banned collection

How we cracked THE EUROPEAN ad ban by selling shirts

Naisten Linja is a national helpline for women and girls who have experienced abuse or domestic violence. Their operations rely heavily on donations and volunteer work. They reach their audience of people in need and potential donors through affordable social media.

In late 2025, as a result of EU’s TTPA legislation, aimed to increase transparency in political advertising, Meta and Microsoft banned all political topics from advertising on their platforms. This included topics like poverty, immigration, women’s rights, equality and domestic violence. The ban effectively cut off Naisten Linja’s only affordable channel for visibility. Even promoting the helpline number was not allowed. Something needed to be done.

We combed the platforms’ terms of service and found a loophole. While political ads were banned, the sale of political products was not. Selling a MAGA hat was more than ok, but promoting a life without domestic violence was not. Merch was something the platforms didn’t want to ban, as this is a big source of income for them.

We printed the same exact, banned message on t-shirts. We then advertised the shirts. Same messages, same advertiser. Even if we wouldn’t sell a single shirt, just having them as product listings gave us a way through the advertising ban.

But the shirts started selling. People bought them as a way of support, as a way to help, as a way to show they had been a victim themselves. The shirts started popping up in social media feeds, in stories about domestic violence, at political rallies and even on the red carpet, when director Kati Laukkanen wore the helpline number on her dress when picking up the award for best documentary. Influencers rallied behind the cause, politicians wore the shirts in their social media posts and universities looked into the case as an example of the popularization of feminism.

Circumventing the ad ban was the goal and we found a way past it. But we also generated a new source of funds for Naisten Linja, in addition to regular donations growing by +28% y/y. With a meager ad budget of 330€, the campaign reached people to the tune of over 660.000€ in earned visibility.

Role: The idea came about with Antti Kaarto, after which I did pretty much everything else
Agency: hasan & partners