Migrant Workers Alliance for Change is showing diners the hidden costs of the food on their menu: that people are literally dying to produce their meals.

Around 3,000 QR codes resembling one that would direct to a normal menu were covertly set up in Toronto and Ottawa-area restaurants. These “secret menus” directed to an eponymous landing page for Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, an organization that aims to inform the public about the realities migrant workers face, as well as supporting organizing efforts to fight for permanent resident status.

The site chronicles squalid living areas, unsafe work environments and other serious workplace violations routinely experienced by migrants, many of which lead to illness, injury and even death.

“We wanted to help bring the significant issues faced by Canada’s migrant agricultural workers to the forefront of people’s attention,” says Matt Fraracci, CD at Sid Lee, the agency behind the campaign.

Sid Lee first contacted Migrant Workers Alliance for Change in late fall, working together to develop the idea, build the webpage, print the stickers and gather the true stories that would populate the menu.

“And since QR code menus have become a staple in restaurants, we saw a perfect fit and opportunity to use the medium to convey the hidden problem and play with the element of mystery on different levels,” Fraracci says.

In Ottawa, the campaign targeted specific restaurants that were close to Parliament Hill or known to be frequented by policy-makers and MPs.

As Fraracci explains, MWAC’s efforts are grassroots and promoted through social media, CRM and in-person protests.

“Our lead horse was the guerilla activation – which allowed us not only to target unsuspecting dinners, but to do so with a zero-dollar media spend,” Fraracci says.

The mysterious QR menus helped gather over 700 petition signatures, and the the campaign video quickly became the most viewed video on the social pages of Migrant Workers Alliance, increasing viewership by 1402% compared to their average videos. Overall, the campaign earned over 30 million organic impressions thanks to this tactic and the surrounding media coverage. The campaign video is still available to view on MWAC’s social channels including YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram.

“Most of the food we eat every day comes from the backbreaking labour of migrants, this is the secret behind all our menus,” says Syed Hussan, MWAC’s executive director. “With this collaboration, Sid Lee helped us convey the issue to new people by garnering media attention.”

Each year, approximately 60,000 seasonal agricultural workers come to Canada from Mexico, Jamaica and other Caribbean countries. Between January 2020 and June 2021, nine migrant agricultural workers died in Ontario.