PRESS RELEASE
86 billboards, 10 metro stations, markets and universities: starting from May 4, Rome is colored pink and light blue for AIDOS’s campaign against gender stereotypes. An intervention in public space aimed at starting a process of deconstruction.
Rome, April 30, 2026. In spring, the urban space of the capital fills with “for men” and “for women” posters, bringing the issue of gender stereotypes into markets, universities, and everyday places—where they often operate invisibly and are therefore harder to recognize and challenge.
Pink and light blue are among the first mechanisms through which gender difference is expressed. As many others, they are stereotypes through which we learn to interpret the world: two colors associated with assigned sex from birth, which end up influencing roles, expectations, and opportunities.
It is from these apparently simple mechanisms that the campaign takes form. It is part of the project POSTER – Practices beyond streotypes of AIDOS – Italian Association of Women for Development, and it has been realised in collaboration with the communication agency Comunicattive.
The numbers in the urban space
The campaign moves beyond specialized contexts and becomes part of everyday life, occupying urban space as a site of visibility and dialogue.
In Rome, 86 advertising installations distributed across 10 metro stations are accompanied by direct distribution activities in markets, on the metro, and at universities, reaching diverse audiences. The city thus becomes the place where what often remains implicit and normalized is made visible.
What the patriarchy conceal
POSTER works on the gap between formal equality and substantive inequality, because “a poster is a poster”: the same for every person.
This is not the case, however, with wages between men and women. Nor is it the case with the expectations that regulate bodies, the scope allowed for ambition, the value assigned to care, or the way vulnerability and freedom are perceived. For example, in public spaces, women and LGBTQIA+ people are more exposed to conditions of insecurity and vulnerability.
The Festival
The campaign will conclude on May 24 at Monk in Rome, with a dedicated festival: an open day of talks, workshops, and performances to challenge stereotypes and build new collective narratives.
A public moment that gives the process initiated back to the city and invites people to recognize, name, and transform the stereotypes that shape everyday life.
To find out more about the campaign: poster.aidos.it
The project
Launched in 2023, POSTER – Practices Beyond Stereotypes is a project by AIDOS that has directly involved over 2,000 people: more than 800 high school students, over 800 university students, 120 people active in NGOs and the third sector, 150 teachers and educators, and 355 professionals from journalism and the media.
The project has also included the implementation of many other activities aimed at overcoming stereotypes, carried out by the organisations Centro Giornalismo Permanente (CGP), FactoryA, Libellula, Lucha Y Siesta, Partecipare, PID, QuestaèRoma, and SCOSSE.
AIDOS – Italian Association of Women for Development
Founded in 1981, AIDOS works to promote the rights and freedom of choice of women and girls in Italy, Europe, and worldwide.
Through projects, campaigns, and advocacy activities, it seeks to foster awareness and social change on issues related to sexual and reproductive health and rights, the fight against gender-based violence, and economic empowerment.
Together with activists, organizations, and institutions, it is committed to deconstructing gender stereotypes, placing at the center self-determination, bodies, and the rights of women and LGBTQIA+ people.
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