UK gay rights group Stonewall has posted 600 billboards around England, Scotland and Wales with their message:"Some people are gay. Get over it!"
Regular readers of this blog heard about this in-your-face message last November when Stonewall’s Education for All campaign was originally created as an anti-bullying effort with the help of students and teachers. This national campaign was devised after those posters, stickers and postcards distributed to all 5,000 of England’s secondary schools were so well-received.
The general-market billboards started going up Monday and will be in place for two weeks. It would be great if the bright red signs with thick black and white lettering became long-term fixtures for at least a few of the sites.
This campaign is bold by design, and that type of aggressive tactic definitely has merits, especially with teens.
Comparable U.S. campaigns like PFLAG’s “Stay Close” and GLAAD’s celebrity PSAs from last fall have taken a more subtle approach to fighting homophobia. Ultimately, tactics on either end of the spectrum have a place in today’s society.
Effective and efficient communications lies in us knowing our audiences and how best to reach them not only with the right message and channel but also with the most appropriate tone.
I plan to monitor blogs and media sites for general public response as these billboards hit the UK streets this week and if any post-campaign polling is conducted by Stonewall. It will be interesting to see if this campaign continues its momentum of expansion and becomes the next in-demand UK export.
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FYI, I wrote about this today, with a less positive take on it. I notice that you said you’d be monitoring reaction – anything interesting turned up? I’d love to know; my issue with the campaign was that I didn’t think it would be effective. It’s a case where it would be nice to be found wrong!
There was some early vandalism of signs in Blackburn (http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-6916.html). I haven’t heard much other feedback yet.