UN Women NC UK's Humanity Test Reveals Shocking Results as 6,383 People Fail

In partnership with UN Women NC UK, J. Walter Thompson London has launched a recreation of the conventional reCAPTCHA ‘human test’ commonly used by online sites against spam bots, to raise awareness of the 39,000 girls forced into child marriages every day. 

The test results have revealed that 72% of the 8,806 people who’ve taken the test so far, have failed by not accurately identifying images of all brides. 

You can take the test here.

Rather than proving you are a human, this reCAPTCHA requires users to instead prove their humanity by selecting the pictures of brides, before revealing the child brides they overlooked and their harrowing stories. 

The test then prompts participants to help #drawaline against child marriage - which affects 750,000 women and girls around the world, yet is rarely discussed as a major humanitarian problem. Participants can support the cause further by sharing the humanity test across social media, and thus spreading awareness about the issue, mobilizing support for the cause and UN Women NC UK’s mission. 

The creative sheds a light on the issue of child marriage by playing on people’s preconceptions of marriage as shaped by conventional cultural representations, challenging them to reconsider their assumptions and share the test as a result.

Lucas Peon, Executive Creative Director at J. Walter Thompson London, said: “We needed to tell these stories and bring attention to this shocking issue in a way that couldn’t be ignored. The Humanity Test hits people when they least expect it, holding up a mirror to their preconceptions and sanitized view of the world.”

Steve Edwards, Chief Marketing Officer of UN Women National Committee UK, said: “In an environment where charity organisations clamour for a share of the population's compassion, we asked JWT to find a way to elevate our message in peoples' hearts and minds. JWT have used insights into human behaviour to create this unique idea with unsettling results. We hope that the sheer numbers of people who failed the test will shed light on the gulf between our everyday reality and the issues facing millions of real women and girls elsewhere in the world. One of the biggest challenges for a cause is to help audiences relate to the human at the end of a charity's aid programme. By challenging perceptions around a key issue facing women, JWT are encouraging audiences to engage with UN Women NC UK, take action to support us, and be the catalyst for global change.”