Narcos The Censor's Cut

Sex, Drugs, Violence: Let censorship promote it for us

Office: Thailand

Client: Netflix

Challenge

Narcos felt very foreign to Thai audiences, so we needed to build local relevancy for the series. But since it was filled with sex, drugs and violence, we’d also have to handle the almighty Thai censorship board.

Inspiration

Undeterred by the strict Thai censorship protocol, we turned to a recognised human behaviour: The Streisand Effect, a phenomenon whereby an attempt to hide, remove or censor a piece of information has the unintended consequences of publicizing the information more widely. Increasingly prevalent in the internet age, when people become aware that information is being kept from them their motivation to access and spread it increases.

Idea

Sex, drugs, violence? We let censorship promote it for us. By complying with the law completely and removing the most provocative content from the advertising, we drew more attention to it than ever before.