Celebrating the return of Channel 4’s Emmy and BAFTA award winning drama series The Handmaid’s Tale, the broadcaster is bringing the repressive law of Gilead to the UK this week.

In the series Gilead, a patriarchal dystopian regime, controls the fate of women and removes their freedoms. Channel 4 is giving the UK a taste of this twisted fundamentalist state through a provocative ad campaign focussing on the show’s key theme, the oppression of Handmaids. A series of stark messages from Gilead officials enforce their laws in modern-day Britain.

Today the UK’s largest national weekday newspaper, Metro, features a cover wrap stating: “WOMEN ARE NOT ALLOWED TO READ THIS NEWSPAPER”.

The campaign by Channel 4’s award-winning in house creative agency 4Creative continues across nationwide cinemas, Kindle takeover and will run across social media.

James Walker, Head of Channel 4 Marketing said : “We have taken the chilling oppression of women in The Handmaid’s Tale and used this to create a powerful and provocative campaign to get people talking about the much anticipated second series, following the huge success of the first season on Channel 4.”

Alice Tonge, Head of 4Creative said: “Women, what on earth are you doing reading this quote? Only joking! But we were serious about building a campaign around provocative headlines that brought the law of the Gilead, a central theme of the TV show, into everyday life.

“In a world where women are quite rightly demanding equal pay, speaking out against harassment and where gender equality is such a hot topic, we wanted to sneak up on people unexpectedly and create temporary outrage with a controversial campaign to launch the second season of The Handmaid’s Tale. “

Series 2 of the Handmaid’s Tale launches on Channel 4 this Sunday 20th May 2018 at 9pm. This season is shaped by Offred’s pregnancy and her ongoing fight to free her future child from the dystopian horrors of Gilead. “Gilead is within you” is a favourite saying of Aunt Lydia. In Season Two, Offred and all our characters will fight against – or succumb to – this dark truth.