The Yanomami are a group of indigenous people who live in the heart of the Amazon forest in Brazil. They are being attacked by illegal gold mining cartels, which have invaded the Yanomami protected land, killing them and using hundreds of thousands of mercury during the illegal gold extraction, polluting the rivers, destroying the fish and causing famine and disease to the Yanomami in one of the worst humanitarian crises in Brazil's history. Yanomami death because of the illegal gold mining cartels has risen 2000% over the past 4 years.

Due to their isolation from the rest of Brazil, Yanomami genocide hasn’t gotten attention from the media, from the general Brazilian population and from the government. We needed an idea that would make Brazil pay attention, the media to report on the Yanomami genocide and the government to act and expel the illegal mining cartels from the Yanomami protected land.

We decided to use a high-profile global event that dominates the news cycle and social media in Brazil: The Oscars Ceremony.

With its high audience and the attention the event gets from the news and from social conversation, we used the fact that the actual coveted Oscar statue is plated in gold, the very same material that is causing the death of the Yanomami, and we created an alternative statue, made without gold and publicly offered it to 20 Oscar nominees.

We sent the statues and the message to the 20 Oscars nominees with the goal of being heard by the Brazilian population, the Brazilian media and the Brazilian government.

The Brazilian population is obsessed with the Oscars and the red carpet.

The Oscars dominates the news cycle and the conversation in all major social platforms for nearly a week. As the event is covered in gold and its main symbol is a statue that is plated in 24k-gold, we used it to force Brazil to hear a clear message from the Yanomami people and what illegal gold - which represents 60% of all gold produced in Brazil - is causing to them and to the Amazon forest.

We needed the attention of the general Brazilian population and the attention of elected officials and the government, who could act and bring help to the Yanomami.

Our key message was: learn about the cost of gold. A way to expose to Brazilians that illegal gold causes death and destruction.

We created a statue of the Yanomami Xamã and creator Omama. Using all of the details of the Yanomami folclore and oral histories that date back hundreds of years and are passed orally from generation to generation.

The 20 unique statues were sent to 20 Oscar nominees along with a direct message posted on Instagram 3 days before the Oscar ceremony. The message directed at the Oscar nominees was public and it pointed the horrible impact of gold on the lives of the Yanomami people.

The message became the news and the statue became the symbol of the Yanomami fight against illegal gold mining, hijacking the conversation around the Oscars to the Yanomami humanitarian crisis.

$14 Million in earned media.

620 articles written about the initiative on the first 48-hours.

Number 1 trend topic during the Oscars ceremony in Brazil.

4,600% increase on Google search for “Yanomami” in Brazil.

823 million impressions in Social.

Featured on the official Oscars broadcast in Brazil.

Posted by dozens of elected officials. Including Brazil’s president Lula,

Who two days after the Oscars announced swift measures to protect the Yanomami, including a task force bringing the army to the protected land to rid the area from illegal gold mining cartels and bringing food, medicine and medical assistance to those suffering from malnutrition.