Unlock Day: 5.8 million 🔓 emojis for education in prison, 53 million people reached
Unlock Day was meant to last a day. It ran a week: 81,410 people, 5,814,415 unlock emojis and 53 million people reached for prison education, with $0 spent on media.
Post a 🔓 and a donor pays for a day of education for someone in prison.
- Client
- Edovo
- Year
- 2025
- What we did
- Campaign, PR, Production, Website
- Result
- 5.8M emojis · 53M people reached
By the numbers
- 5.8Munlock emojis sharedEvery 🔓 posted with #UnlockDay paid for a day of education for someone in prison.
- 53Mpeople reachedPeople who saw an Unlock Day post.
- 81,410participants inside and outside prisonPeople who posted, from inside prison and out.
- 43%lower recidivism with prison educationEducation in prison cuts the chance someone returns to prison by as much as 43% (RAND).
A million people in US prisons still have no access to education. For Edovo we created National Unlock Day: every unlock emoji posted with #UnlockDay funded a day of learning, and every post told state leaders to unlock access for the rest.
A million people in U.S. prisons still had no way to learn
Education in prison cuts recidivism by as much as 43%. Before Edovo, only 18% of incarcerated people had access to it. In twelve years Edovo reached half of all U.S. prisons and almost a million people.
The other million were harder to reach. Their states hadn't approved the app, or their facilities lacked tablets, internet or staff. Federal prisons were almost entirely missing.
Money alone couldn't fix that. It took visible public demand, loud enough for the people who make those decisions to notice.
Every unlock emoji posted paid for a day of education in prison
Make the smallest possible act count. On March 25, 2025, every 🔓 posted with #UnlockDay and #Edovo unlocked a day of education for someone in prison, with donors covering the cost. Post one or post a thousand.
Every post did a second job. A feed full of locks told state leaders that people wanted access unlocked for everyone else.
We built unlockday.org with a live counter that tallied emojis across platforms and a generator for ready-made posts. Kits helped churches, religious groups and corrections staff take part.
Post a lock
Share the 🔓 with #UnlockDay. One emoji or a thousand.
Donors pay
Each emoji posted funds a day of learning in prison.
Leaders notice
Every post asks state leaders to unlock access for the rest.
People inside and outside prison, churches, guards and celebrities
People inside and outside prison filled their feeds with locks, some posting one and some posting hundreds. Churches and corrections staff joined with their own kits.
Celebrities posted too, from Kerry Washington and Chelsea Handler to Skai Jackson. Many wore Unlock gear, clothing we designed where every lock icon pays for education in prison.
Demand was so high that Edovo extended Unlock Day through April 1. A new donor came in to cover even more emojis.
5.8 million unlock emojis and 53 million people reached
By the end, 5,814,415 unlock emojis had been shared by 81,410 participants. Together they reached 53 million people with the case for prison education.
Each emoji stood for a day of learning for someone behind bars. Every one of them was also public proof that people want that door open.
Unlock Day is built to come back every March 25. The site, the counter and the kits are ready to run again.
5.8 million tiny locks. Each one, a day of school for someone in prison.
Gallery
In the news
Unlock Day: every 🔓 posted today pays for a day of school in prison
Post a 🔓 with #UnlockDay and #Edovo, and donors fund a day of education for someone in prison. Buena and Edovo launch the first National Unlock Day.
New client: Edovo asks Buena to rebrand education behind bars
Edovo puts free courses on prison tablets for about a million people, with a startup’s brand. It asked us for the whole stack: strategy, design, language and a website.
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