In an effort to flood anti-LGBTQ+ lawmakers with faxes relating to queer love & identity. Havas New York set up an installation that allowed NYC pride attendees to fax the legislators behind the 300+ anti-LGBTQ+ bills that have been introduced this year. This was done through a series of installations featuring QR codes that allowed visitors to fax different anti-LGBTQ+ legislators directly. Legislators are by law prohibited from turning off their fax machines.
The installation consisted of a series of billboards, each one featuring a different anti-LGBTQ+ bill along with a QR code with a call-to-action. NYC pride is one of the biggest LGBTQ+ celebrations in the world and with this installation Havas New York hoped to flood legislators and bury the bills. Each installation generated faxes from people who oppose the restricting bills. These faxes included novels and messages about equality and queer love.
In one day the campaign generated over 570,000 pages of faxes to lawmakers behind anti-LGBTQ+ bills. There has not been an activation with the same aim and magnitude as #BuryTheBills in New York over the last 53 years, according to NYC pride. As if the campaign wasn’t ingenious enough, through a partnership with Penguin Random House, one tree will be planted for each batch of excerpts faxed in an effort to make up for the paper used in the campaign.