This work fundamentally challenges a monolith of culture, the entertainment industry, by appearing to alter a physical icon that represents it, the Hollywood Sign. Attempting to spark change through covert, grassroots actions, including what some might consider vandalism, is intended to provoke—to catch the viewer off guard and ask them to reconsider the way things are. To those who worked on this, this stunt isn’t just a stunt. It’s part of a movement based on deeply held beliefs. A challenge for a culture-shaping institution to change long-held practices in order to become a more diverse space.

While the 2023 Oscars marked many historical firsts, it didn’t make as many strides as it could have. No female directors were nominated. And BIPOC and other POC talent were snubbed in multiple categories. This didn’t just happen this year. Or the year before. People from marginalized communities continue to not be seen by the Academy—so much so that a social campaign started nearly 10 years ago (#oscarssowhite) is still relevant today.

Our brief was to create a stunt with UOMA, a Black-owned beauty brand and challenger in the industry that champions diversity by showing beauty comes in a range of colors. The stunt was an opportunity to showcase the representation we want to see in mainstream media.

With a limited budget, we needed an idea that would create impact and put a metaphorical stake in the ground that UOMA is a leader in diversity initiatives.

UOMA is a Black-owned beauty brand founded on the mission to carve out space for marginalized communities and champion diversity. Historically, Hollywood has been a white space. Look at the sign. White. After 95 years of the Academy Awards, there is still a huge representation gap. Of all winners in 2023, women of color account for 2 percent, and the ratio of white to underrepresented nominees is 17 to 1. To challenge the industry, we set out to paint the Hollywood Sign from white to the multiple skin tones that should be represented. On the morning of the Oscars, we released a social media video showing the Hollywood we imagine—one that advocates for all colors. Using a mix of special effects and live action, we were able to create a piece of content that not only passed as believable but was written up in countless publications.

Our communications strategy was to shout our message from the hilltops, the Hollywood hilltops specifically. In order to be heard, we made the immediate audience broad and inclusive by design—we wanted as many people as possible to shout along with us.

To cast a wide net, we chose TikTok to launch. In our case, TikTok is incredibly relevant as a platform that spreads ideas about social change. We relied on the app’s proprietary algorithm to serve our video to passionate audiences who would be likely to comment and share our message. At the end of the video, we included a CTA asking the public who else should have been nominated so they could engage in the conversation and have their voice heard. This was the main driver in our overall approach—to encourage engagement on the issue at hand.

As yet another year of the Academy Awards approached without sufficiently diverse nominees, UOMA saw an opportunity to make a statement. After creating the footage for this video with a combination of practically shot footage and VFX in the incredibly short span of two weeks, we then edited our narrative to make it TikTok friendly, including captions, text-to-speech, and trending audio. It was posted the morning of the Oscars with a CTA asking viewers to comment with other names they wanted to see among nominees.

Living on TikTok and Instagram, this work sparked conversations not only about race and those who were severely snubbed by the Academy but also about whether or not the sign painting actually happened. Familiar with UOMA’s rebellious spirit and diversity initiatives, most walked away believing that their favorite Black-owned beauty brand had actually pulled off this near-impossible feat.

The video received an overwhelmingly positive response, garnering 17.4K organic views across TikTok and Instagram. Viewers were actively engaged in our message, as evidenced by a high average TikTok watch time of 20.8 seconds, meaning the average viewer watched the bulk of the action. The video received hundreds of comments of support, praise, awe, and disbelief from viewers, among them beauty influencers, entertainers, and even other beauty brands. In turn, UOMA saw an increase of 320% in sessions on their website immediately following the post. The stunt was featured in AdAge, AdForum, Ads of Brands, Adobo Magazine, Little Black Book, The Stable, and BeautyMatter.

The Academy Awards, also known as the Oscars, are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment industry in the United States and worldwide. But after 95 years, there is still a huge representation gap when it comes to gender. Of all winners in 2023, women of color account for 2 percent, the ratio of men to women nominees is 5 to 1, and the ratio of white to underrepresented nominees is 17 to 1. Even after 8 years of the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite going viral, no Black woman has ever received a directing nomination, nor has any Black director ever won best director.