European Commission's campaign
"For diversity. Against discrimination."
Challenge
Campaign's challenge was to raise relevant discussion on different forms of discrimination and benefits of diverse society. In Finland, problems related to discrimination may be regarded as they were mostly solved. Thus, discussion on the topic may not seem necessary. The challenge was to find new viewpoints and methods to discuss diversity and opposing discrimination.
Solution
New channels and viewpoints were important when the discussion of diversity and opposing discrimination was introduced. Finnish young people were reached through a Prejudice test published in social media, i.e. Facebook and a separate website. The idea of the test was to have a fresh approach to difficult questions and raise new thoughts on discrimination and diversity in those who take the test. Social media offered an excellent opportunity to reach the younger audience who does not necessarily follow national press regularly.
Campaign's media relations were built by press releases and contacting the key editors. The topic was adapted for different forms of media to attain the maximal visibility for the campaign. Among others, in case of the international day against homophobia, three different press releases illustrating the topic from different viewpoints were sent to media. The visibility was high both on local and national media and also in more unusual contexts, such as electric IT media.
Results
The media coverage was from print and online versions of local media and trade papers to national press and radio and TV inserts. The topic was discussed in Finnish, Swedish and English language media. A handful of press releases resulted in over 100 articles and inserts and the Facebook test was taken over 5 000 times.
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