The archive · Advertising · Marketing decision · 2018–2019
Netflix censors its own Narcos Mexico trailer to tease it — ADFEST 2019 Outdoor Grande
JWT Bangkok cut every forbidden frame itself, leaving censor bars so obvious they sold the show — 93M impressions, 34M people reached in Thailand.
Netflix
What it had to solve
Netflix wanted to launch Narcos: Mexico in Thailand, but the country's censorship board required every sex, drug and violence scene to be cut from outdoor ads — a censorship consultant of 30 years confirmed the limits. The show also felt foreign to Thai audiences, so the launch had to build local relevance.
How it works
Netflix's Narcos was a global hit, but Narcos: Mexico — a show built on sex, drugs and violence — faced Thailand's notoriously strict censorship. To advertise it in Bangkok, every risqué frame had to be cut from outdoor media, and a censorship consultant of 30 years confirmed exactly how far the law went.
JWT Bangkok's twist was to comply completely and let the censorship itself do the marketing. Instead of removing the forbidden scenes, the team cut around the offending images within each scene, leaving outlines clear enough that anyone could tell what had been removed. The strategy was named in the case: the Streisand effect, where an attempt to hide something only publicizes it more.
Where media owners refused to run even the redacted trailers, Netflix filled the space with Photoshop's instantly recognizable grid and the message 'this ad was cut out due to inappropriate content.' The bars and notices became the ad, teasing a show that had felt foreign to Thai audiences and turning it into something forbidden people wanted to find.
The campaign achieved 93 million impressions and reached 34 million people — almost half of Thailand's population. It won the Grande Lotus in Outdoor at ADFEST 2019 plus two Bronzes, and a Gold at AdStars 2019, becoming a textbook example of turning regulation into creative.
Why it lands
- It uses the Streisand effect deliberately: telling people something was cut makes them want to see it.
- It obeys the law to the letter while inverting its spirit, so it was unassailable and effective at the same time.
- The 'this ad was cut' notice gave Netflix a second, self-aware message that ran where the trailer itself couldn't.
- It solved local relevance, not just censorship: the campaign turned a foreign show into a forbidden thing Thais wanted to find.
What it did
The campaign drew 93 million impressions and reached 34 million people — almost half of Thailand's population. It won the Outdoor Grande Lotus plus two Bronzes at ADFEST 2019, and a Gold at AdStars 2019 in Social & Influencer.
What you can take
When a rule blocks your message, make the blocking visible: letting people see exactly what was cut away turns compliance into curiosity.
Since then
The work became a reference case for censorship-themed advertising and stayed in Wunderman Thompson's (JWT's successor) case archive, credited with 93 million impressions and 34 million reach. It also won a Gold in Social & Influencer at the 2019 Busan-based AdStars festival, extending its run beyond ADFEST.
Sources
- Narcos The Censor's Cut | VML
- Campaign Spotlight: J Walter Thompson Bangkok Wins Grande Lotus and 2 Bronzes for 'Narcos the Censor's Cut'
- Narcos - Netflix The Censor's Cut
- 2019 부산국제광고제 Gold - Narcos The Censor's Cut
- Here Are All the Winners of ADFEST 2019
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