The All-Poland Women’s Strike (Ogólnopolski Strajk Kobiet) spent nearly 18,000 PLN on a sharp, targeted campaign against right-wing candidates, reaching hundreds of thousands of voters—according to a report prepared by Piotr Okulski, a strategic communications expert at the Observatory for Economic Development and Democracy. The document reveals how this grassroots women’s movement transformed into an invisible yet highly effective black PR machine in support of Rafał Trzaskowski.
Pennies for Ads, Millions in Reach
While the Women’s Strike’s total Facebook ad spending amounted to just 17,900 PLN—according to data from Meta’s Ad Library—Okulski’s report shows that this modest sum was enough to reach over a million young voters with provocative slogans like “I WON’T VOTE FOR AN IDIOT” or “UNIVERSITIES ONLY FOR THE RICH? NO WAY!” This is microtargeting in its purest form: hundreds of ad variants tested for as little as 50–100 PLN, and once the algorithm detected a viral meme, the budget was boosted to 3,000–3,500 PLN to generate up to a quarter million views in just days.
The contrast with official campaign headquarters is striking. Right-wing candidates must account for every poster and receipt, while the opposition’s NGO ecosystem easily sidesteps spending limits—technically not being an electoral committee, it isn’t bound by reporting requirements. “It’s like a chess game where one side can take out any piece, yet remains invisible itself,” says the report’s author.
From ‘Idiot’ to ‘Nazi’—A Language Meant to Wound
The most aggressive ads targeted Sławomir Mentzen. Framed in black with the Women’s Strike lightning bolt, he was called an idiot, accused of wanting “universities for the rich,” and branded a protégé of Grzegorz Braun, described as a “pro-Russian radical.” Braun himself became a target when the Women’s Strike warned about “Nazis attacking abortion clinics.” Never before have we seen such sharp, often vulgar messages legally promoted by a Public Benefit Organization (OPP) collecting 1.5% of taxpayers’ income tax under the slogan of “helping women.”
Most of the verified ads were pure negative messaging—meant to discourage, ridicule, and stigmatize. When campaign debates spiraled out of control—such as Mentzen’s scooter joke—the very next day, the Women’s Strike pushed a video titled: “Now we know why Mentzen dodges questions—join us and chase him out!”
A Web of Connections the Trzaskowski Camp Won’t Talk About
The report identifies recurring patterns: domains and servers used by the Women’s Strike are linked to digital infrastructure from Rafał Trzaskowski’s fundraising apparatus. Tomasz Kurzewski—the actual beneficiary of the “Your Voice Matters” Foundation that produced anti-Mentzen attack ads—employs both the candidate’s wife, Małgorzata Trzaskowska, and his former chief of staff, Katarzyna Ślimak, in one of his companies.
For voters, this creates a thick fog of confusion. Officially, there are three separate entities: a protest movement, a civic foundation, and an electoral committee. In reality, the money, people, and messaging circulate within the same information bloodstream. “This isn’t about a single invoice or bank transfer—it’s a political symbiosis: the Women’s Strike lays down covering fire, while the campaign keeps its hands clean,” writes Okulski.
A Legal Loophole That Needs Closing
The root of the problem lies in a 2018 amendment to the Electoral Code—ironically introduced by PiS—which granted citizens the right to engage in campaign advocacy without facing criminal penalties. Meant to protect free speech, the law opened a backdoor through which, by 2025, hundreds of thousands of zlotys flowed into “pro-turnout” campaigns with clear partisan agendas.
The National Electoral Commission (PKW) doesn’t audit these expenditures, Meta only shows spending ranges, and when ads are masked by multiple accounts, tracing the source becomes a mission impossible.
Legally speaking, the Women’s Strike did nothing wrong—because the regulations are full of holes. But from a conservative perspective, it raises the question of fair play. While the Nawrocki or Mentzen campaigns have to account for every kilometer traveled by their campaign bus, the Women’s Strike can freely post a meme saying “Thief!” right before the electoral silence begins—and vanish before anyone can lodge a complaint.
Meme Democracy or Fact-Based Democracy?
“Small budget – massive reach” sounds like a startup success story, but in the context of elections, it turns political discourse into a rapid-fire meme war. Young voters see 15-second clips on their phones repeating over and over that Candidate A is an idiot, Candidate B is a Nazi. The report quotes data from the Batory Foundation and includes Okulski’s own analysis, showing that the Women’s Strike achieved a 6% share rate for their ads, compared to just 0.8% for official candidate videos.
In practice, every successful viral post lowered the threshold for decision-making to “I like – I don’t like” instead of “I understand – I don’t understand.”
The conservative electorate, still invested in debates and policy programs, lost the battle in a space where a screenshot matters more than a rational argument. As Okulski observes, “Future campaigns won’t be decided in TV studios but in TikTok comment sections—and the winner won’t be the one who’s right, but the one with the funnier GIF.”
Who Paid for This Revolution?
The Women’s Strike holds Public Benefit status and raised over 1.2 million PLN from the 1.5% income tax donations in 2024. If even a fraction of that money goes toward aggressive political advocacy, taxpayers deserve to know—and should have the option to withdraw support. Unfortunately, under current law, the foundation can simply claim that “fighting for women’s rights” is a civic mission consistent with its charter.
Legal experts cited in the report warn that unless the definition of “political activity” is clarified in the law governing public benefit organizations, the Women’s Strike and dozens of similar entities will continue to walk the line between psychological support and party politics.
What Next?
The Observatory’s report puts forward several key recommendations:
- Immediate tracking of all online political ad spending, regardless of whether it’s commissioned by a party, foundation, or individual;
- Ongoing monitoring of Meta’s Ad Library by the National Electoral Commission;
- A clear legal definition of political advocacy in the Public Benefit Act, preferably with concrete examples;
- And finally, an educational campaign to inform young voters that memes can be sponsored, and that “grassroots” movements are often centrally orchestrated.
Without these changes, we risk following the American playbook: tens of millions of złotys funneled into micro-ads, zero accountability, and deepening political polarization.
The Bottom Line?
Presented as a grassroots protest movement, the All-Poland Women’s Strike turned out in 2025 to be a precision tool of electoral marketing. By exploiting legal gray areas and public sympathy for “bottom-up” initiatives, it transformed a modest budget into a significant influence on the first round of the election. If the government fails to catch up legislatively, similar black-box campaigns may shape future elections even more boldly—and we’ll only find out when someone finally lifts the curtain on another well-masked operation.
💡Raport: Czarny PR wspierający kampanię Trzaskowskiego – kampanie reklamowe Ogólnopolskiego Strajku Kobiet
— Piotr Okulski (@Piotr_Okulski) May 20, 2025
🎯 Zajrzałem pod maskę internetowej kampanii wyborów prezydenckich 2025 i odkryłem mechanizm, w którym OSK stał się de facto agencją czarnego PR. Mój raport pokazuje… pic.twitter.com/CHwnamNz6a