BT has reacted to the spike in online racial abuse hurled against England football players as part of its ‘Hope United’ campaign.
Against the tagline #SayNoToRacism, the video captures the spike in online hate using an audio frequency graph. Working on two levels, the increased frequency stands in for the England flag.
“Three players have given everything to play for their country. And what were they given in return last night? A spike in racist online abuse. #SayNoToRacism BT and EE, proud partners of @England,” reads the social post, created by Saatchi & Saatchi.
BT Sport launched a bold anti-hate speech campaign to spark debate back in May, alongside agency partner Wunderman Thompson. It used BT Sport as the lens to look at the abuse its pundits, staff and the football community receive on social media. But it couldn’t just be another sad video campaign – ‘Draw the Line’ needed to inspire action.
That was followed by BT’s Hope United, created by Saatchi & Saatchi, which reacted to research that found one in 10 people have received online abuse in the past year.
To tackle online hate ahead of the Uefa European Championships, BT created Hope United, a diverse team of footballers who came together from across the Home Nations.
You can view the campaign in full by clicking on the box below. To get in touch about Ad of the Day, please email imogen.watson@thedrum.com.
: 'BT: #SayNoToRacism'
