The archive · Marketing & Growth · Marketing decision · 2024
EE's 'Unfinished' memoir blacks out Ellen White's story at the age girls quit sport
England's record scorer pens an official autobiography that stops at her teenage years — the remaining pages print black, the career online hate erases.
EE
What it had to solve
YouGov research commissioned by EE found 121 UK girls aged 13-19 give up their sporting story every day, in part because of the online hate that 44% of girls are subjected to. EE's Hope United mission against online hate wanted that invisible loss to be felt rather than just quoted.
How it works
EE's YouGov research for its Hope United anti-online-hate mission found that 121 UK girls aged 13-19 give up on their sporting story every day, partly because of the online hate 44% of girls are subjected to. The telecom brand's response was a book — but an official autobiography engineered not to finish.
'Unfinished' by Ellen White, England Women's greatest ever goalscorer, begins as a normal memoir: childhood football, the Arsenal Women academy, and the daunting move toward England U17 camps. Then the story stops — abruptly, at her teenage years, the exact age at which the research says girls drop out of sport.
The stopping is physical. As White grows older the pages darken, then turn completely black using a black-on-black printing technique, so the career highlights of one of England's greatest scorers disappear into the paper. An incomplete audiobook version launched free on Spotify and through EE's LearnSmart platform.
The device makes the campaign's argument experiential: an erased career that the reader cannot finish reading. D&AD's awards archive later listed the work under Writing for Design.
Why it lands
- The medium is the argument — a career the reader cannot finish reading makes the loss tangible.
- The story stops at precisely the age the research identifies, connecting an elite athlete's story to millions of girls.
- Black-on-black printing lets people experience the erasure instead of being told about it.
- It extends EE's existing Hope United mission, giving the campaign a shareable artifact rather than another plea.
What it did
The book turns a statistic into an object: readers hold a real career that literally disappears at the age abuse peaks, and the missing chapters do the arguing. D&AD's archive lists the work under Writing for Design; the archive page carries no reach or sales figures.
What you can take
To make a statistic felt, break the format people expect: an autobiography that cannot finish shows what hate erases better than a number in a press release.
Since then
Unfinished launched in March 2024 as EE's latest step against online hate, with a free incomplete audiobook on Spotify and content with White on EE's LearnSmart hub. EE framed it inside its longer campaign pressing social platforms and government, including work with the charity Glitch and lobbying to name women and girls in the UK's Online Safety Act. D&AD's awards archive later listed the memoir under Writing for Design.
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