Racism. It stops with me.
The Australian Human Rights Commission
The challenge was to refresh the RISWM campaign to incorporate awareness of structural racism and its equally sinister sister, unconscious bias. However, this call to look beyond personal behaviours and tackle social and systemic disadvantages had the potential to alienate any audience triggered by the sheer possibility that they could be inadvertently racist. So, we got creative with the approach.
Wins:
Agency Campaign of the Year – NSW Premier’s Multicultural Communications Awards 2023
Nominations:
PRIA Integrated Marketing and Communication Campaign 2022
B&T AWARD FOR BRAVERY 2022
B&T DIVERSITY – THE WORK 2022
We would ease Australians without lived experience of racism into a safe space for them to engage and reflect because, no matter how challenging the conversation, we need to talk about racism and the causes of inequality. Using mirrors as a key visual metaphor throughout campaign collateral, the audience would be invited to look beyond the surface and discover change is only possible when we reflect within ourselves. That reflection would begin by asking ourselves the hard questions — prompted by the 14 hero questions researched, tested, and developed by the Think HQ team. Each question would ask participants to consider their own experiences and think about the everyday advantages and disadvantages caused by racism.
It would be a starting point to ignite constructive conversations about both institutional and interpersonal racism, first with the audience themselves and then with those at their dinner table.
