For the LGBTQIAP+ supporters community, the World Cup was proving to be a dreadful experience. All fans who attempted to do peaceful demonstrations of love were met with violence and detainment, having their belongings confiscated for them for good.

Since Corner Magazine supports the game and all its fans, we decided to create a safe protesting tool that could remove all the negativity from their World Cup experience, killing every risk of confrontation. Using the filter was simple and intuitive, supporters just needed to point to any World Cup flag and automatically transform it into a symbol of pride.

Qatar is one of the most homophobic countries in the world. And in 2022, the biggest sporting event in the world was set to happen there. Corner Magazine is all about football and its sidelines stories, always standing for human rights and unique characters. How could a sport so inclusive become dangerous for some fans?

So, we thought: why don’t we highjack the tournament’s media exposure and coverage to send a message of free love?

It sounded good as a planned. But once the tournament started, dozens of peaceful manifestations of love were met with violence, detainment, and confiscations. LGBTQIAP+ pride was being shut down.

To even the odds, we hacked the rules and made a pride flag that the authorities couldn’t ban or confiscate. Corner gave people a safe tool to protest and transformed the biggest sports event in the world into a huge LGBTQ+ protest.

Qatar is in the top 20 most homophobic countries in the world according to the 2022 LGBTQIAP+ Travel Safety Index. Homosexuality is illegal there and can be punished by up to 7 years in jail. And while many Qatari Authorities claimed that everybody would be welcomed, the World Cup Ambassador said homosexuality was a “damage in the mind”, revealing what they really think about the LGBTQ+ community.

Corner Magazine decided to act and give the LGBT+ Community a safe tool to show their pride without risks and to use the World Cup as a platform to raise the gay rights flag in a country where being gay is illegal.

Before the Qatar World Cup started, there was a lot of apprehension toward the country's treatment of the LGBTQIAP+ community.

When people tried to protest, they were detained, having their rainbow attire confiscated. So, we decided to create a pride flag that was impossible to ban or confiscate.

We developed a Snapchat filter that uses augmented reality to transform all World Cup flags into digital rainbow flags and gave people a protesting tool that was safe to use anywhere across the country. We ended up creating a global movement that hacked both media coverage and local rules.

The whole world was avid to watch the 2022 World Cup and its repercussions, due to huge controversies that anticipated the event: alcohol prohibition, labor problems along the stadiums’ constructions, prices, and of course the LGBTQIAP+ statements given by staff and local authorities.

So, if all eyes were on the World Cup, any action that called Qatar into question would need to be cautiously executed. And between matches, people would dive into the second screens, to see the impressions of those who were present at the games. A perfect opportunity and media for our action to take place and steal attention.

The idea happened during the 2022 Qatar World Cup, with protests happening during the entire tournament, from the first match on November 20th to the big final on December 18th.

The activation took place in Doha during the World Cup, and people were able to use the Snapchat filter in all Qatari Stadiums, at FIFA Fan Fests and everywhere (even in other countries).

We needed a solution that was invisible to the Qatari authorities but visible to the whole world. So, we created a Snapchat filter that uses augmented reality to transform all World Cup flags into digital rainbow flags. We gave people a protesting tool that was safe to use at stadiums, streets, fan fests and literally anywhere.

With every match, user-generated content swarmed social channels and the movement made itself to global press, highjacking the World Cup coverage and using it to spread a message of free love.

The campaign achieved 62 million in earned media, with over 145 million impressions globally. We had hundreds of protests on every game day, with 0 flags taken and 0 people detained by the Qatari police.

We spread the word of respect in a hostile environment for it, using a free tool to protest, encourage others to join freely and speak up in an organic and natural way.

Pride Nation is an idea for all LGBTQIAP+ football fans who felt silenced during this last World Cup. A right of reply and a cry of resistance for those who suffer in silence in countries where being who you is still a crime.

Qatar is in the top 20 most homophobic countries in the world according to the 2022 LGBTQIAP+ Travel Safety Index. Homosexuality is illegal in the country and can be punished by up to 7 years in jail. And despite many Qatari Authorities said everybody would be welcomed to Doha, the World Cup Ambassador said homosexuality was a “damage in the mind”, revealing what they really think about LGBT+ fans.

All LGBTQIAP+ demonstrations were banned in the Qatar World Cup with dozens of people being detained and having their rainbow attire confiscated.

We gave people a protesting tool that was safe to use at Qatari stadiums, streets and fan fests. And just like that, we created a global movement, with hundreds of usages in the Middle East and beyond and repercussions in some of the world’s biggest news outlets.