A lawsuit can be a weapon. And for those who challenge power, the threat of one can be enough to silence them.
That is the reality behind SLAPP SUIT, our new campaign with Greenpeace International.
SLAPPs, or Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation, are lawsuits used by the powerful to intimidate, isolate and silence people who speak out. They have been used against activists, journalists, whistleblowers, organisations and ordinary citizens around the world.
Our challenge was to take a complex legal mechanism and make its emotional impact immediate.
At the centre of the campaign is SLAPP SUIT, a chilling hero film starring Javier Bardem and Yasmin Finney, directed by Martin Stirling through Partizan.
Built around the double meaning of a “suit” as both a garment and a lawsuit, the film turns legal intimidation into wearable horror, making audiences feel the threat of a SLAPP before they understand the acronym.
The campaign launches as Greenpeace International continues its landmark anti-SLAPP case against Energy Transfer in the Netherlands, one of the first major tests of the EU’s new anti-SLAPP Directive.
For Greenpeace International, this is not only about one legal battle. It is about the wider threat SLAPPs pose to freedom of speech, the right to protest and anyone who challenges power.
As Susannah Compton, Head of Programme - Civic Resistance and Freedoms at Greenpeace International, says:
“The global threat of corporate intimidation tactics such as SLAPP lawsuits is an existential crisis for freedom of speech and protest for everyone who dares speak out against the powerful.”
The campaign asks audiences to watch and share the film, raising awareness of how SLAPPs are being used to silence resistance around the world.
Because corporate bullies use SLAPPs to target whistleblowers, journalists, activists and you.