What if Mark Zuckerberg were a woman? His fortune would shrink by 21% / FORBES "FORBES WOMEN"

The problem

The global gender pay gap has been talked about for years, but statistics alone don't make it feel real. Forbes Brazil chose to use its own signature asset, the rich list itself, to show this gap not through numbers, but through faces.

The insight

There's a statistic showing that female versions of Zuckerberg and Gates would have 21% less wealth in the United States, and a female version of Slim would have 17% less in Mexico. The idea was: what if you applied real billionaires' actual faces to those numbers? Wouldn't that change how it lands? Numbers are boring, but seeing a familiar face suddenly change is genuinely startling.

The idea

Real billionaires were digitally altered into female versions of themselves and featured on the rich list pages as "Marcia Zuckerberg," "Billie Gates," and "Carla Slim." The setup showed the same achievements, the same companies, yet a lower net worth simply because the gender had changed. The following year, a sequel called "Forbes Women II" added female versions of Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Larry Page, named "Jenny," "Ellen," and "Lara."

What happened

The campaign won Gold at Cannes Lions. The CEO of Forbes Brazil said the campaign succeeded in drawing attention to the serious issue of the pay gap. A sequel was produced the following year.

Afterthought

Instead of venting anger, using your own flagship content to say "this is reality" — I love this approach. The structure is clever: you do a double take thinking "wait, did this person always look like that?" and only then does the statistic come into play.

Awards

• Cannes Lions Gold 2017