The Human Billboard shows in a shocking way the indelible marks that racist comments leave on their victims. The CRAN asked on its social media platforms for people to share the racist insults that had left an emotional scar in their soul. We took those insults and tattooed them on the body of a black man who walked the streets of Paris the day after the presidential elections to to show France and the whole world the harmful marks that racism leaves on its victims.

The association gathered insults from victims through social media and even got France’s two most famous black journalists, Audrey Pulvar and Harry Roselmack to participate; as well as the victim from the highly publicized incident in which a man was pushed out of the subway by the Chelsea supporters during the Champion’s League. We then tattooed these insults onto the body of a black man.

We launched the campaign with a teaser film, presenting The Human Billboard and announcing a rendezvous at the Place de la République the day after the first vote of the elections.

When the day arrived, the HUMAN BILLBOARD showed the French people his tattoos while handing out flyers with the campaign message: racism leaves marks that are never forgotten.

The flyers invited the French people to visit jeffaceleracism.fr and discover the testimonies of the victims, and also to make a donation to CRAN to erase racism.

In only a few hours, with ZERO media investment, one man walking through Place de la République – our Human Billboard – had already travelled around the world. With articles on over 150 international news sites spanning five continents, earning 250 million media impressions, and creating more than 1.2 million reactions (shares, likes, and comments) on social media.

The PR from the ad was so far-reaching, it even evoked an angry reaction from the Front National’s number 2, Florian Philippot, on Twitter.

The most important thing, however, is that donations to CRAN increased 2000%, taking us one step closer to erasing racism.