To love America is to love all Americans.

Our solution was to shift the attention from a divisive conversation to an inclusive conversation about patriotism. On Independence Day 2016, we launched a film on Facebook rallying Americans to unite around love of countrymen, not just love of country.

The full campaign, “We Are America,” encouraged Americans to identify the biases that divide us, and help normalize the imagery of all Americans, by representing their own race, religion, gender, sexuality, disability, and age. We named the campaign as a rallying cry for people to join, and built the tools for them to participate.

Instead of casting a typical champion of diversity and inclusion, we cast wrestling superstar John Cena, a hulking picture of the straight, white, archetypal American male. John’s presence helped us to reach a much broader audience, and surprise them with our message of inclusion and diversity.

John’s rousing speech broke down the meaning of patriotism, concluding that love of country is love of its people.

The film was launched on Facebook on July 4th, America’s most patriotic day.

The video went immediately viral (18 million views on John Cena’s Facebook alone). At time of entry, combined views exceeded 80 million and climbing, has received over 900,00 likes and been shared over 2 million times.

National and international TV networks picked it up (CNN, ABC World News, Fox), as well as iconic TV shows (Good Morning America) and Newspapers, websites and blogs. The campaign has in excess of 45,000 news articles and 500 million media impressions.

The film was also shared by influencers including Ellen DeGeneres, Amy Schumer, Susan Sarandon, Andy Richter, the ESPYS, Rashida Jones, Entertainment Weekly, TIME, Soledad O’Brien, Matt McGorry, Rosario Dawson, Nick Offerman, among others.

People resonated with the message behind #WeAreAmerica, speaking out against the presence of bias in America. 88% of #WeAreAmerica usage was retweets, suggesting that people agreed with the message and felt compelled to share it rather than talk about it.