M&C Saatchi London and The Home Office raise awareness of hate crimes with a new campaign

The Home Office launched its latest campaign, created by M&C Saatchi London, which aims to communicate that targeting someone with verbal, online or physical abuse because of their race, religion, disability, sexual orientation or transgender identity may be a hate crime. The creative focuses on behaviors that are already criminal, such as aggressive verbal abuse and harassment, but which are hate crimes because of their hate-based motivation.

In the 60’ video ad we see a variety of people targeted, such as a woman in a hijab walking down the street and a man in a wheelchair on a bus, with the faces of the perpetrators replaced by police e-fit style images. The final line “It’s not just offensive. It’s an offence.” appears on screen as the ad ends. This same style is echoed in a series of posters and digital ads showing a transgender woman, young Jewish man and lesbian couple, among others, being targeted by these e-fit figures.

The campaign breaks on 31st of October on VOD, and in display and outdoor across England and Wales from the 5th of November, with media planning handled by Wavemaker and buying by Carat and Manning Gottlieb.

Andy Tighe, Director of Communications at The Home Office said:

Through this bold multimedia campaign, the Home Office wants to show members of the public what a hate crime is and that it is unacceptable. It is important to reassure communities that the government is taking hate crime seriously and this innovative campaign will help address the attitudes and beliefs that foster hate crime.

Justin Tindall, Group Chief Creative Officer at M&C Saatchi said:

What this creative does effectively is communicate to at risk groups how seriously the government takes hate crimes, while also forcing potential perpetrators to see themselves as criminals. The hope is that not only will victims feel more confident in reporting hate crimes, but that those seeking to target these groups will think twice before doing so.

Credits: 

Title/Project: ‘Tackling Hate Crime’

Brief: Hate Crime

Agency: M&C Saatchi

Agency contact: Thibault Cozic-Shaw, Senior Account Manager, Fiona Plumstead, Senior Producer

Client name: Laura Jones and Debbie Porter – Home Office, Strategic Communications and Campaigns

Client job title: Head of Marketing; Head of Strategic Communications and Campaigns

Copywriter: Simon Dicketts

Art director: Daniel Seager

Planner/CSU Director: Lizzie Haycocks

Designer: Megan Fowler

Photographer: Joey L

Photographer’s agency: Patricia Mcmahon Photography

Media agency: Manning Gottlieb and Carat

Media planner: Wavemaker

Production company: Knucklehead

Director: Charlotte Regan

Audio Post Production: Jungle

Post Production: Stitch / 1920

Exposure (media channels): Digital & outdoor