Advertising, Media & PR
→ Best Viral Campaign
Pause Before You Post
Data Protection Commission of Ireland
A campaign that went viral because parents felt compelled to send it to each other.
Case Study
Purpose of Campaign
Parents routinely share images of their children online without fully considering or understanding the long-term implications and risks. Pause Before You Post was created by Ireland’s Data Protection Commission to reveal how those seemingly harmless posts can be used to reconstruct a child’s identity, and to challenge parents to rethink everyday sharing habits.
How the campaign spread
Parents didn’t just watch the film, they sent it directly to friends and family. The campaign spread through peer-to-peer sharing, tagging, and private messages rather than paid amplification or influencer seeding.
As parents debated the issue publicly, mainstream media and television picked up the conversation, amplifying a message that had already gained momentum through human behaviour rather than media tactics. Overall, public conversation increased more than 200X following release.
Why it went viral
The campaign resonated because it triggered recognition of a behaviour people saw in themselves. Rather than entertaining or shocking for effect, it prompted responsibility, turning parents into advocates who felt compelled to share the message with other parents.
Cultural Response
The work was discussed across multiple countries and languages, shared organically on social platforms, and picked up by parenting organisations and authorities, alongside mainstream media. Parents called for the campaign to be shown in their own countries, reinforcing that its spread was driven by relevance rather than novelty.
What happened next
Beyond earned media coverage, the campaign’s reach translated into action. Data protection authorities in other jurisdictions across the world requested to use the campaign locally, extending its life and impact through institutional adoption rather than planned rollout.