In 2010, Qatar was chosen to host the FIFA World Cup 2022. A country with a government that violates women's rights, LGBTQ+ rights and human rights – severely. More than 6.500 migrant workers have died in direct correlation to the preparations for the World Cup 2022. The NGOs #BoycottQatar2022 and Loud against Nazis, asked us to come up with an idea that sets a sign for human rights and against the FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

Dec 10, 2022 was the match day of the World Cup quarterfinals – the same date as the International Human Rights Day of the United Nations. With Football Blackout for Human Rights, we asked everyone in Germany via social media and OOH to switch off football for human rights. And do something else instead – be it purposeful, absurd or brave. The goal was to set a sign in social media and beyond, making a statement for human rights and against the oppressions in Qatar. To achieve this goal we brought many celebrities, influencers, brands and NGOs on board.

The challenge was to come up with a strategy that convinces as many people as possible to join Football Blackout. Therefore, we rolled out the campaign in three waves. First, we raised awareness about the topic of human rights violations in Qatar. Then we gave people other ideas about what to do instead of watching football. These suggestions also took place in real life, like inviting people to events (e.g. the football tournament “Kicken statt Gucken” = Playing instead of watching). Our key message was: Switch off for human rights. As it turned out that our campaign hit a nerve and more and more people joined in, we decided to extend our campaign until the final game. We asked people to continue with their boycott and spread the word about it in social media. The target audience were people all over Germany: any age, nationality, or language.

The Football Blackout for Human Rights was a bold digital campaign, that gave everyone an opportunity to protest against the World Cup in Qatar. On the website footballblackout.org we offered several statements that allowed people to set a sign for human rights, and state what else they were doing instead of watching football. OOH posters and projections were used as well in major German cities. We collaborated with brands and football fan clubs. Also, more and more NGOs joined forces to support our cause (eg. Human Rights Watch). Public viewing places participated as well, switching their screens off for Football Blackout. Major German influencers, celebrities and athletes participated as well, asking their followers to join in. We started our grassroots-campaign 2 months prior to the Football World Cup on Sep 26, 2022. The campaign did run until the World Cup final on Dec 18, 2022.

The campaign hit a nerve. While audience numbers skyrocketed in all other European countries, on Human Rights Day they were 38% lower in Germany than during the last World Cup 2018. As more and more people boycotted the World Cup during our campaign, we decided to extend Football Blackout beyond the original end date. Additionally, more and more NGOs and influencers came on board and fueled our mission further. The World Cup boycott was perfect. Overall, Football Blackout generated 124 million media impressions, including social media and press coverage, out-of-home, and presence at events such as Lollapalooza and football stadiums. During the 2022 World Cup, the total number of viewers in Germany had dropped by 50% compared to the 2018 World Cup. Also 11 million fewer people in Germany saw the final compared to the last World Cup final. A strong sign for human rights from German football fans.