In a time where the border between true and false grows increasingly blurry, Sweden’s public service broadcaster SVT wanted to show the important role fact-based journalism – no matter whether it’s from public service or commercial media houses – still fulfils in our society.

We created a contemporary film based on an ancient Swedish saying for exaggerating the truth – “making a hen out of a feather”.
The film follows how an innocent prank shared by two teenage boys on social media through a
quick series of reactions, misunderstandings, exaggerations and wilful distortion becomes a global news story about a mysterious chicken epidemic raging in Sweden, amplified by both regular people and world leaders.

The campaign created large engagement and debate, and strengthened the belief that SVT has an important mission by 16%, and that public service is worth paying for by 19%.

A few days after the launch of the film a real fake news item about a case of ebola in southern
Sweden made headlines in British newspaper and was widely shared by online extremists, with the rallying cry “Last night in Sweden…”