After a year-long right-wing assault on the public media organization, including Congress’s recession of more than $1 billion in federal funding, National Public Radio has launched a new ad campaign that defends Americans’ right to be curious. 

Created with ad agency Mischief @ No Fixed Address, the multi-platform campaign includes video, social media activations, a print placement in the New York Times, and limited-edition merchandise available in the NPR Shop.  

For the first time in NPR's 50-year-history, the NPR letters in its logo will be replaced with “HOW” and “WHY” to underscore citizens’ right and need to be curious. 

The monument-style channel letters outside the organization’s national headquarters will transform to HOW on one side and WHY on the other.  

The group is also publishing a “manifesto” in the New York Times and on its Instagram page.  

“Curiosity is the fuel of a functioning democracy,” said NPR CMO Mishka Pitter-Armand. “NPR is essential civic infrastructure built to protect the right to inquiry. As a cornerstone of American life for over 50 years, this work is our pledge to the public: we will continue to provide the trusted context you need to explore the world, encouraging every American to keep listening and asking the hard questions.”  

“NPR feeds a basic, but strong human need – curiosity,” added Greg Hahn, co-founder and chief creative officer with Mischief. “NPR’s power lies in the questions that come from our curiosity and the interesting, unexpected ways journalists help answer them. With a simple reframe, we sought to link the iconic NPR brand with the words so often at the initial spark of curiosity.”