The high school of looking the other way

Racism The new campaign by Wirz Werbung for the Foundation against Racism and Anti-Semitism promotes the fight against marginalization.
The Federal Department of Home Affairs is moving the Foundation against Racism and
Antisemitism (GRA) is focusing this year on the topic of "Discrimination in everyday life".
Center stage. The third campaign is also being managed by Wirz Werbung.
The agency has previously addressed the problems of "violence" and "racism" on
provocative way successfully "from the regulars' table to the table of the nation
brought", as CD Hanspeter Schweizer is pleased to report.
Last year's campaign was even featured in the editorial section of the
Spiegel news magazine attracted a great deal of attention. It was provoked
a discussion about how far the questioning of racist jokes itself
can work with such prejudices when writing texts, for example:
"What do Thai women do when it gets dark? - Light." Like the
Swiss women too.

Less provocative
These posters have caused quite a stir. Representatives of
Minorities have complained, says Schweizer, but he concedes:
"The higher the level of education, the higher the acceptance." This year
Wirz Werbung wants to be a little less provocative in its basic tone. Once again
But it's about using a creative idea to "overcome the sleeping majority".
to catch them on the left foot", to shake them up and to raise an issue in
that would rather be kept under the table.
"With only limited resources available, it is all the more
It is crucial that the maximum effect can be achieved:
striking, provocative and involving", the briefing demanded.
At the GRA Foundation, Ronald Bernheim, CEO of Mondaine Watch, presented the
overall responsibility. Following the death of Sigi Feigel 
President. The "Discrimination in everyday life" campaign works with
marginalized people of all kinds. Prejudices against
Skin color, religion, nationality or sexuality are associated with
multiple choice subjects.
CD Hanspeter Schweizer wants to "reduce, because
you can't use the medium of posters and advertisements for complicated issues.
can convey". His recipe is: "Little on the poster, so that much
can be moved." The advertiser is convinced that ads always
have to become more bold, because hardly anyone takes the time to read them anymore.
of the small print. Just a little more text
Shaking things up and polarizing is the key to stimulating the target audience.
will continue to deal with the topic. Schweizer compares
the process with mental acupuncture: "We have to use individual needles to
to make something happen."
In the commercial, this works according to the rules of successful sitcoms. As
Music is played on a piano, as in the screening of silent films.
The jokes are met with laughter from an invisible audience.
supported. The commercial shows comical situations like in the films with
the hidden camera. A man in a restaurant drinks on purpose
several times from his neighbor's glass until she, exasperated, leaves the table.
changes. A jogger in the neighborhood is showered on purpose when in
someone is spraying the lawn with a hose. At the
Classic with the sliding door, a man is constantly standing in front of closed
doors, while everyone else can enter. Leave in a park
all the people flee the benches when a young man tries to get into their
center. An invisible laugh, then the claim is too
hear: "Anyone who is discriminated against experiences it every day" and as a result
the request "www.stop-diskriminierung.ch".
The film was produced by Zurich-based Pumpkin. The spot in length
of a movie trailer was shot on video to emphasize the character of the
to be able to copy "Candid Camera". But the actors were
Actors. Director Frieder Wittich has developed a special
known for his "lucky hand", which he demonstrated in spots for Pneu Egger or
McDonald's Germany has proven.

Minorities stay outside
In the new spot, the agency has deliberately not included any minorities this time.
actors so that the audience can laugh as heartily as possible.
This turns the viewer into a possible perpetrator - without
is preached against violence in a schoolmasterly manner.
In the first campaign, a movie made the headlines in which
which two actors are performing on Zurich's Paradeplatz.
a fake brawl with the help of a hidden camera - and the
Most passers-by just looked on.

Commitment continues
During this filming on the Paradeplatz, thirty people from the
Wirz agency is ready to help the "extras" after they have run away around the
to ask for broadcasting rights. From the extensive material with
many undecided and more or less helpful passers-by are
training videos have been shot. "The campaigns are just one of the
channels of education," explains the GRA. The foundation wants to use advertising
and also provide education in schools, for example. In addition to
various publications, a book is also published periodically about
racist incidents in Switzerland.
Thanks to the commitment of Cinecom, the new films will be shown for two weeks.
in Swiss cinemas free of charge. The following have agreed to broadcast
Sat 1 is also involved in the advertising campaign.
with the Swiss Press Association. With Plakanda/ ClearChannel you are
on good negotiating terms for a second wave of billposting in the first
Quarter 2006.  

Andreas Panzeri