For the last 2
weeks our group has worked on creating a social campaign that would deal with
the rising problem of xenophobia and racism in Poland. Due to the immigration crisis in Europe
it has become immensely sensitive and current topic. Although Poland still
remains very homogenous country, the fear of the immigrants’ influx has created
the atmosphere susceptible to the radical use of racist hate speech and cases
of violence towards people of different skin color.
In our campaign we want to address football fans, some of whom are
openly declaring their racist opinions on the scarves, graffiti, banners etc.
Using the opportunity of Euro Championship 2016 we want to cooperate with the
bars in which people gather to watch games.
Capturing someone’s
attention while watching a game might be very challenging. We wanted to lead
our campaign in the only place people cannot escape – toilets. The main product
of our campaign is the toilet paper with racist hate speech on it, as we
strongly believe that’s the only appropriate place for the hate speech towards
people of different color. We’ve printed posters, which we’ve placed right in
front of the toilet so we may be sure no poster stays unnoticed. Next to the
flushing button we want to place our sticker “Flush The Racism”.
The idea of our campaign is to kick people out of their comfort zone
and force them, even if just for a minute, to rethink the use of the hateful
words. Most people were shocked and were forced to form their stance on the
idea of racism and the importance of raising awareness any way possible. While
some people did voice their concerns, most people supported the style of the
campaign and found it shocking but fun. Friends responded by saying how the
campaign forced them to rethink the words and not let them go when they hear
those words in public from now on. We achieved our goal to the extent of having
our friends declare their aversion to racism and further the discussion in the
comments section and via text. We hope that this passion will be displayed in
public. Most of our plans were to do this and then continue to spread
anti-racism related news on the campaign social media pages. 
Some people have opposed the method to our ideas because we do use the
same harsh language we are trying to prevent. However, the point of the
campaign is to be noticed by as many people as possible so we want to make as
much noise as we can by using the words as an example of what not to say. In
addition, we are trying to target an audience that is used to being very vocal
about their opinions during sports games. The language is harsh but fitting for
our target demographic. By getting on the level of the people we are trying to
connect with, the conversation can be brought into the open.
Follow our facebook fanpage #RasizmJestDoD… to check out the results!
