CHALLENGE

 
Say goodbye to racism.
 
 

INSIGHT

 
Summer 2012, the UEFA European Championship takes place in the Ukraine and Poland. The press releases footage of outraged racist hooligans, the BBC broadcasts a documentary: ‘Stadiums of Hate’, in Kiev a gay-parade is cancelled because of serious threats, negative news spread like wildfire. Football players are shocked, some are willing to boycott the games.
 
 

IDEA

 
What if we could move thousands of football fans to wave racism goodbye on the stadium? Yes, with white handkerchiefs! What a great sign this would be! The idea was born and it took off immediately; celebrities joined in, every day more and more big names supported our initiative…
 
We found a great sponsor, truly concerned from the bottom of his heart; Duncan Stutterheim, the man behind ID&T and dance event Sensation White. We started a website, a Facebook page, a Twitter channel, we produced a viral movie, we produced flyers, 30.000 white handkerchiefs and took a plane to the Ukraine! A great team of volunteers joined in on the action. Radio stations, TV, everybody was invested in helping 30.000 people ‘WAVE RACISM GOODBYE’ during the Holland-Germany game.
 
The stakes were high when the UEFA officially banned the action, but we didn’t give up and achieved our goal.
 


 

RESULT

 
Thousands of great people waved with us to show we are serious! Despite the fact that loads of handkerchiefs didn’t make it onto the stadium or that cameras didn’t show the action at the beginning of the game, we dare to say it was a great success. The media coverage was enormous and more importantly, it sparked discussions. Even weeks after the Championship, subjects like racism and homophobia were still on the media.
 
It’s a beginning. To be continued!
 
 

Goodbye Racism Final Video from BLEND\BUREAUX on Vimeo.