The Yanomami indigenous people are at the brink of extinction in the heart of the Amazon forest in Brazil. The invasion of gold mining cartels to their protected land became a genocide in one of the worst humanitarian crises in Brazil's history.

Due to their isolation from the rest of the Brazilian population, this genocide wasn't getting the attention it needed from the news media, from Brazil's population and the government. So, knowing Brazil obsesses over the Oscar ceremony, we used the media event to hijack the conversation by creating an alternative statue to the Oscars made with no gold

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.

60% of gold production in Brazil is illegal and happens in indigenous protected land, causing one of the worst humanitarian crisis in Brazil's history.

The majority of the Brazilian population was not aware of what is happening to the Yanomami in the heart of the Amazon forest. So we needed to reach the general Brazilian population, through the use of the news and social platforms, to generate enough outcry so elected officials and the government would have to act.

Our call to action was: learn about the cost of gold. A way to expose to Brazilians that their gold is most likely causing death and destruction to the Yanomami people and the Amazon forest.

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.

Brazil is obsessed with the Oscar ceremony and the red carpet.

The social chatter and news coverage usually is about what the celebrities wore and what sort of jewerly they were wearing.

In the other hand, the main Brazilian population is unaware of what is going on to the Yanomami in the heart of the Amazon forest.

They are attacked by Illegal Gold Mining Cartels that invade their protected land to extract gold. The illegal gold mining cartels use ruthless violence and also destroy the rivers and the forest with chemicals used on gold mining. They pollute the rivers, burn the trees and poison the fish and other animals, leaving the Yanomami without clean water and access to food as they rely on fish and game to eat.