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These Empty Rooms for ‘Rent’ Belonged to Mexico’s

Missing Women
Campaign by FCB Mexico raises awareness and resources for families
By Natalie Venegas | April 26, 2022

"Empty Rooms" features the intact rooms of missing women on various rental
platforms.
Credit: FCB Mexico

The stats are staggering: According to the Mexican Association of Stolen and Disappeared Children (AMNRDAC),
on average 10 women disappear every day in Mexico—55% of them minors. Meanwhile, their families must deal
with the financial impact of their search along with the unimaginable pain of such sudden loss.

To help raise awareness and resources for the missing women of Mexico, the agency launched “Empty Rooms,
Cuartos Vacíos,” a new creative platform to raise awareness of the issue as well as financially support the
surviving families. Created in collaboration with agency FCB México, “Empty Rooms” features the living spaces
that belonged to missing women on various rental platforms, like Airbnb and Facebook Marketplace.

The somber images are the rooms of Pearl Lark Bolaños Cruz, Zaira López Maldonado, Nimbe Selene Zepeta
Xochihua and Karla Adriana Bolaños Castillo. Accompanying them are the stories of each of the missing women
from the perspectives of their loved ones. The image and description highlight what each woman has left behind,
such as clothes, shoes and personal items, and allows people to get a glimpse into the life of the person who
has gone missing.

To be clear: These rooms are not actually for rent. But the proceeds from donations made through the platform
will go toward resources needed to search for these women and support their families.

“The intact rooms of the disappeared women are symbols of hope that we are not willing to forget, like Zaira’s
room, which has been empty for 11 years,” agency founder Maria Elena Solis said in a statement.

The search for answers

With 100,000 disappeared people dating back to 1964, per Mexico’s National Search Commission, the country
continues to contend with a growing crisis.

To support the growing number of families who experience these tragedies, AMNRDAC created this platform in
the hopes that people from all over the world will know about this crisis as the efforts to bring them home
continue to require a large number of resources.

“We approached AMNRDAC to learn more about this social problem, and the number of cases without resolution
is terrifying. These are numbers that we simply cannot ignore as a society, so it was transcendental to create
from empathy,” Tomas Bejarano, creative director of FCB Mexico, said in a statement.

A global crisis

As more stories of missing women are amplified with campaigns and platforms like “Empty Rooms,” a haunting,
very specific crisis continues to unfold. Femicide, a term used when women are killed because of their gender, is
on the rise in Mexico as well as several other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. The need for
international commitments for resources and awareness is crucial.

For agency FCB Mexico, this platform is an important dissemination tool they hope to expand in the near future.

“We presented ‘Empty Rooms’ at FCB’s global creative council, and it was so well received that it will be
replicated in various countries with different problems,” Ana Noriega, chief creative officer at FCB Mexico, said in
a statement.

You can view the stories and videos of the missing women on the “Empty Rooms” website.

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