The harms of prejudice, harassment and bullying have become more widely understood in recent years, however this has not always been the case. Back in 2009, the No To Homophobia Campaign launched a groundbreaking social marketing campaign to highlight the harm done by homophobia, transphobia and biphoba and to call on organisations and individuals to stand up against it.
Social Change Projects was initially engaged to develop a media strategy for the campaign launch and to refine its messaging and digital approach.
The work done by the No To Homophobia Campaign team, supported by Social Change Projects, secured involvement from the Victorian Government, Victoria Police, the AFL and dozens of high profile community champions.
The coverage included a front page story in the Herald Sun, TV news bulletins, extensive radio and online. This snowballed into waves of follow-up coverage that included international media outlets. The No To Homophobia television commercial was played at that year’s AFL semi-finals and at other community and sporting events. No To Homphobia Campaign joined a group of AFL and other sports players to lead the Price March the following year.
Our digital impact was also notable with XXX, nearly 100,000 video views.
Daniel then took on a role coordinating the campaign along with Anna Brown over the next year, including the ‘I Promise’ follow-up campaign, which increased again the number of public champions.
There is a lot more work to be done until harmful prejudice is reduced and eliminated for the community. In particular, transgender, non-binary, bisexual and intersex members of the LGBTIQ+ community are still a long way behind others in achieving acceptance, affirmation and true equality. However, this campaign has played an important role in moving our community forward in this journey.
The videos