New Blood Entry — Raise Your Fan
Award: Yellow Pencil
The Case for Her & Refinery29 / 2021
The ultimate cliché when it comes to menopause is the picture of a woman fanning herself, having a hot flash. The only symptom menopause is usually reduced to and the one they are most often ridiculed for.
We believe that in order to break a taboo, you have to own it. To reclaim all the prejudice that society adheres to it.
We proudly present ¨Raise Your Fan¨.
A collection of hand fans to show the wide array of symptoms and experiences menopause can entail, from different artists’ perspectives.
A disruptive launch, infiltrating both politics and mainstream media, to condemn menopause’s absence from it and reach people from all ages and genders.
A movement for the menopausal to reclaim the hand fan as a symbol of empowerment and turn fanning into an act of vindication.
What did the judges have to say?
"Raise Your Fan is my favorite in terms of the idea that has the potential to create a global movement. The video montage was executed brilliantly, they were let down on the fan posters by using only Caucasian hands. It would have been great to see a diverse set of hands though I know in their video they did put an illustration of a diverse group. The idea has the ability to live on further than just a campaign, I love how it's empowering the cause. Simple yet so effective!"
Sabina Begum, Creative Director, UK & Europe, Noisy Beast
"Raise Your Fan was a great idea."
Neville Shah, Executive Creative Director, Ogilvy & Mather
"This entry could be a campaign that takes flight globally! Hot flashes (flushes), sexual health and expression are the physical manifestations of menopause most often discussed and lamented. The diversity of folx raising a fan to increase menopause awareness could be amazing and it including the art of women or femmes identified people is a plus."
Omisade Burney-Scott, Creator/Curator, Black Girl's Guide to Surviving Menopause