The Illegal Blood Bank by Elvis

Unilad is exhibiting real blood in Central London, as it calls on the newly-elected government to change discriminatory blood donation policies currently in place. This out-of-home campaign is the second phase of its #BloodWithoutBias initiative, developed in partnership with FreedomToDonate and creative agency Elvis.

The blood exhibited was donated by gay and bisexual men at UNILAD’s Illegal Blood Bank on 23 November 2019 as a display of defiance against the three-month deferral period. This policy restricts sexually active gay and bisexual men from donating unless they abstain from sex for three months.

Instead, Unilad and FreedomToDonate’s Illegal Blood Bank assessed donors on individual factors and behaviours which impact risk, such as whether they’d had a new partner in the last three months. This system enabled the organisations to identify safe donors, using a fairer system, which assess all potential donors equally based on their behaviour.

All blood taken at The Illegal Blood Bank was tested at an approved facility by qualified medical professionals and 100% of the blood was deemed perfectly safe to use.