Illustration: Atanas Giew for Fine Acts
It’s International Human Rights Day, and we decided to celebrate it with a cocktail of some of the best social campaigns that have brought us joy and hope through the years (as we suspect you might be in need of an extra dose in your life right now). Despite having different release periods, formats and approaches, these campaigns all manage to deliver a creative interpretation of the issue that makes us feel like it will all work out in the end. Gifts should be a thing on Human Rights Day, so here’s one from our team, to you.
Fuck The Poor
A brilliant campaign for the Pilion Trust that shows the importance of crafting the right message. By portraying the difference between saying “fuck the poor” and “help the poor” it proves that people really do care, but also that we are quite desensitized to certain topics. We tend to respond to messages that challenge our beliefs but remain uninvolved as long as the issue is easy to ignore.
Ice Watch
The melting of the polar ice caps might feel like such a distant issue and data is just not compelling enough to convey the seriousness of the situation. Artist Olafur Eliasson and geologist Minik Rosing made the issue hit “close to home” – by bringing 12 blocks of ice from near Greenland, and arranging them in a clock-like formation in front of Place du Panthéon in Paris, where our climate’s future was being decided during COP21. While the blocks were melting, people could interact with them and really gain a sense of time running out, and what’s being lost.
Marriage Equality: Bring Your Family With You
This campaign around the 2015 marriage equality referendum in Ireland delivers a superbly wonderful presentation of the LGBTQ child–parent relationship, and how important it is. A great example of hopefulness and support.
UNSTOPPABLE
The most awesome aspect and strongest point of this campaign video by Planned Parenthood is that it fully consists of real-life footage. There’s something truly special about seeing real people unite for a common cause, fighting for a better world.
The Thrill of Victory
One of those videos where the music and visuals align just right to deliver a message beyond words. It’s energetic, passionate and inspiring. Well done, Amnesty!
Flash Drives For Freedom
Can you imagine what it’s like to live in a country where information needs to be smuggled in on flash drives from abroad? To know almost nothing of the outside world and its progress? Well, welcome to North Korea. Flash Drives For Freedom by the Human Rights Foundation is a truly brilliant and insightful initiative that fights against the lack of information in the country by having people donate flash drives, which are then loaded with various media and smuggled in. Pure genius.
When You Don’t Exist
Refugee issues can feel distant when you're on the safer side of the border. This campaign by Amnesty International shows what it would be like if the tables were turned.
The Story of @bee_nfluencer
Fondation de France created a fictitious Instagram influencer called B, a bee that endorses products and does all the things an influencer does. The mechanic was simple – all ad revenue goes to fund saving the bees. Featuring an unexpected twist at the end.
Go Back To Africa
There’s beauty in taking a phrase that has a negative connotation, and flipping it. This is exactly what happens in this campaign with the phrase “Go Back to Africa.” There’s insight, there’s tech, there’s a message, it’s all there.
Eco-bot.net
A campaign that uses AI to shed light on the issue of climate change disinformation and greenwashing on social media. Truly, an activist campaign for the modern age. Launched just over a month ago, shortly before COP26, we think that we’ve yet to hear much about Eco-bot.net.
Enjoyed these? Want some more inspo? Check out our own campaigns on a vast range of human rights issues. Or, if we’ve put you in a creative mood, head over to TheGreats.co, our platform for free socially-engaged visuals, download an illustration and make it your own by changing or translating the copy, and give the gift of hope to your own community. Happy Human Rights Day!