The initiative used on the most covered and talked about global events in the world as a way to propel our message to the Brazilian population and get the attention of the media and to become a topic of conversation in social media, to generate enough outcry that would force elected officials and the Brazilian government to act.

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.

Three days before the Oscar ceremony, we sent the statues to 20 Oscar nominees in Los Angeles and posted a direct message from Junior Yanomami (leader of the URIHI Yanomami Association) to the same Oscar nominees. The message was reposted by other indigenous leaders and that kicked off the conversation organically. The initiative was featured by all major newspapers and all major newscast in open TV and from there it grew on social platforms, being shared by hundreds of celebrities and reaching elected officials who also joined in, sharing our message and pleading to act.

The president of Brazil, Lula, also posted the message and two days after the Oscars announced a series of measures to rid the Yanomami land from Illegal Gold mining cartels.

$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.

The Yanomami are indigenous people that live isolated from the rest of Brazil, in the hart 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.