Break of Silence

Break of Silence

Creating space and visibility for the Deaf community

InLesco, a nonprofit sign language school, and PHD LATAM – Costa Rica set out to raise awareness of the challenges facing the Deaf community through “The Break of Silence,” a campaign that included Costa Rica’s first silent TV commercial break with interpreted sign language. To achieve this, PHD LATAM – Costa Rica recruited five advertisers to pay for media production and donate 10 InLesco scholarships. As a result of the initiative, enrollment at InLesco increased by 117% for the following academic period, surpassing the initial goal nearly four times. Scholarship applicants also soared, reaching 20 times the number of students from the start of the campaign. This initiative also won several Festival of Media Global Awards, including:

• Campaign of the Year
• Gold – The Effectiveness Award
• Silver – Inclusive Campaign of the Year