Racism. It stops with me.
The Australian Human Rights Commission
The challenge was to refresh the RISWM campaign by incorporating awareness of structural racism and its equally insidious counterpart: unconscious bias. This call to look beyond personal behaviours and address systemic disadvantage risked alienating audiences who might be triggered by the suggestion that they could be inadvertently racist.
So, we modernised the campaign’s message to highlight how racism operates at both institutional and interpersonal levels and provided people with the tools to recognise and address it.
To engage Australians without lived experience of racism, we created a safe space for reflection. Because no matter how uncomfortable the conversation, we need to talk about racism and its role in driving inequality.
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
Mirrors became a central visual metaphor across the campaign. Audiences were invited to look beyond the surface and recognise that meaningful change begins with self-reflection. That reflection started by asking the hard questions, 14 hero questions researched, tested, and developed by the Think HQ team. Each question prompted participants to consider their own experiences and reflect on the everyday advantages and disadvantages created by racism.
This would serve as a starting point to ignite constructive conversations about racism, first within the individual, then around the dinner table.
