Homophobia in sports is way more common than people might think. Many Latin American athletes who belong to the LGBTQIA+ community receive hate attacks and even threats on social media, forcing them to leave their countries and completely hide their sexuality. Specially, in sports like boxing and specifically in countries like Mexico. A country with a "macho" culture where boxers are national heroes considered symbols of masculinity because of their long history of championships. "Shout" is an online film that shows this reality in a raw and impressive way, inviting everyone to reflect on how painful homophobia can be.

Situation:

According to Amnesty International, Mexico is the second most violent country for the LGBTQIA+ community in Latin America.

And Movistar, a telecommunications company committed to the LGBTQIA+ community for more than 10 years, has been concerned with generating campaigns that invite reflection and connection between people and rejecting any act of physical or verbal violence against any social group. A topic that is part of its communication key roles as a digital service provider.

Brief:

Launch a campaign with a powerful message to fight against homophobia which is suffered by thousands of people in Mexico, in order to highlight the problem that currently exists in sports.

Objective:

Connect with our audience to invite them to reject homophobia

and draw the attention of sports entities to generate awareness and change.

Audience Insights

Homophobia can lead many to hide their sexuality, and when they get outed on digital platforms and social media, the damage can be very serious. Rejection from family, friends, and followers can reach very high degrees in people who belong to the LGBTQIA+ community. A reality that affects many people, especially in Latin American countries and societies where the macho culture is very important within their identity as a country.

Community building and management approach

We decided to use boxing as the main theme so that many people in the sports world could feel identified with the problem that homophobia generates, especially with a sport as manly as boxing. We decided to portray our story with very realistic scenarios, cast and cinematography to portray in detail how painful hate and rejection is.

“Shout” is a Hero Online Film (inspired by stories of famous gay boxers such as former World Champions Orlando “El fenómeno” Cruz and Emile Griffit) that tells the story of “Javier”, a gay Mexican boxer who faces one one of the toughest rivals: Homophobia. A story of pain, courage, rejection and above all, pride that reminds us how important it is to fight against homophobia and forcefully reject attacks on anyone. A content that portrays several important moments with which people from the LGBTQIA+ community can feel identified. Like the fear of revealing their sexuality and the rejection of the family. Also showing the effect of the viralization of hate and homophobia on social media.

Implementation

We launch our Online Film on pride day, in the year where homophobic violence was the main theme of the movement.

Timeline

June 21, 2022, to July 20, 2022.

Placement

The piece was advertised on platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, achieving a very positive response from people, the sports media, international boxers such as Juan Manuel Márquez and the world boxing council.

Scale

We decided to tell a very realistic story, for which we set ourselves the goal of finding a very real casting. We didn't want actors, but boxers. And we find a family of boxers where the father, his sons and even the trainer who appear in our Online Film belong to this world. We chose a cinematographic style and filmed in 16 millimeters, something very unusual in Mexican advertising, to give the story a more realistic and raw texture.

Impact

On average, the reproduction of our video was 4.5 times per user. The song was requested and played on radio stations, given the success it had on social media. The World Boxing council had a direct response with our campaign celebrating and acknowledging its impact through social media and announcing the implementation of a new category for transgender boxers.

Reach

15 million people reached and 10k hours of social media consumed in two weeks.

Engagement

A 5 minute long piece on digital platforms managed to connect with our audience thanks to its entertaining and impressive narrative when usually much shorter pieces are more effective.

Brand perception:

Brand mentions increased by 40%.

Change in Behaviour

57% increase of positive sentiment.

Achievement against objectives.

In a category where sentiment is always negative, we managed to reverse it in just two weeks.

In Mexico, talking about homosexuals, lesbians or the LGBTQIA+ community in sports like boxing is a taboo that can generate a lot of hatred, rejection and even violence. Boxers are a symbol of masculinity and it is unthinkable that an athlete in such an important sport that has given Mexico so many world titles could be homosexual. A very specific reality of Mexico.