Greenpeace takes over ad space to call out protest policing
By James Herring on Thursday, July 3, 2025
Amnesty International UK, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace and Liberty have teamed up for a punchy new campaign defending the right to protest – and they’ve taken it to the streets, or more specifically, to high-traffic digital billboards in London, Birmingham and Manchester.
The ads feature real protesters holding signs that read: ‘I’m protesting in here to avoid arrest out there’, a sharp dig at the UK’s tightening protest laws.
Created and shot by elvis, the creative features videos of six high profile activists holding placards that say ‘I’m protesting in here to avoid arrest out there’.
Each advert faithfully represents the individual protester as if they were actually present on the street, the activists each representing an issue that they have protested about in the past and want to continue doing so in the future.
It’s a quietly defiant visual – no chants, no marches, just people standing front of camera and still making noise.
Behind the scenes
The space for the campaign was gifted after the project won Ocean Outdoor’s annual Digital Creative Competition.
That prize is no small win: Ocean’s massive urban screens regularly host work from brands like Netflix, Nike and Adidas.
