In Greece, ActionAid is mostly known as the international organization that supports underprivileged children in Africa and Asia. Nobody is aware that ActionAid fights for human rights and confronts all kinds of discrimination and injustice.

So, it was of great importance to promote to Greek people this role alongside with the foster family’s charity.

The opportunity was given to us by the most publicized trial in decades, against the far right “Golden Dawn” party. A political faction of allegedly Neo – Nazis, thugs, xenophobes and anti-Semites with a dangerously growing influence on the, battered by economic crisis, Greek public.

As the trial day approached, Action Aid was the right organization to intervene in order to wake up people and encourage them to support the prosecutor’s side during this very important trial. We only had 30 days to remind people what racism really looks and feels like. And among witty campaigns and sharp mottos, we chose to run a reality check, use all possible media and have everyone link ActionAid with human rights and promote their work on social justice.

So we conducted a social experiment that showcased how Greek people react in real situations of racism attacks. The results were very optimistic and the public response to the video release was massive. In the first 24 hours ActionAid Hellas had millions of mentions all over the Greek Internet and the topic ignited great media interest on the organization with interview requests, comments and TV appearances of spokespersons.

With only 30 days ahead, our plan was to show people the true face of the criminals on trial, encouraging them to take a stand against them. The best way was through a reality check. So we run an experiment that would show Greeks their true side towards racism. The budget was relatively low but the action was crucial to be impactful. The project needed profound organization, study and forecast of the unpredicted factors of a live shooting. The location itself was chosen carefully to ensure the diversity of people through the day and a variety of reactions. The actor had to stop shooting several times, due to the intense feelings provoked by the public reaction. Since the results were unknown, our original strategy was based on reminding the poisonous effects of racism. The actual result was truly amazing and helped us deliver a beautiful video and promote more intensely the initial message.

The video was uploaded on ActionAid’s YouTube channel, Facebook, Twitter and website on March 19th. Within the first 24 hours, it broke the Greek Internet and traditional media with:

13 TV clips

11 radio mentions

20 articles on print media

437 online clippings

1512 retweets

38.102 Twitter profiles reached

37.461 Facebook shares and comments

Within the next days:

1.109.000 people engaged with the original Facebook post and the video was watched over 1.500.000 times on YouTube and through direct players. According to Google, the video ranked as most liked, most “subscribers gained”, most watched and most shared YouTube video in Greece for 2015. Sadly, we are still not able to calculate the massive number of views and shares from independent’s users reposting.

Finally, significant was also the participation of Greek citizens of all ages in demonstrations at the first day of the trial.