Black & Abroad / ‘Go back to Africa’
Black & Abroad, a travel brand dedicated to the modern black traveller, has hijacked the derogatory statement ‘go back to Africa’ to change the narrative around its use and help increase tourism in the continent’s 54 countries.
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The campaign, by FCB/SIX, Toronto works by initially selecting abusive posts online containing the statement ‘go back to Africa’ and overlaying them against beautiful images of the continent’s diverse landscapes and thriving cities.
A custom-created AI platform uses Google Vision to crowd-source images from people who already live in or have visited an African country. The platform filters the images based on location, subject, quality and relevancy.
It also acts as a real-time content marketing engine, aggregating relevant imagery before adding it to a dedicated campaign website and distributing it though Black & Abroad’s social media channels. This activity also encourages African Americans to post their own images and interact via the hashtag #GoBackToAfrica.
RESULTS / According to the agency, the campaign increased brand visibility on social media by 315%. It also won a Grand Prix in Creative Data at the 2019 Cannes Lions festival.
INSIGHTS / With ‘Go Back to Africa’, Black & Abroad tackles multiple problems with representation in the digital ecosystem at once. On the one hand, the campaign combats hate speech on social media by empowering black travellers to reclaim and counter a racial slur. At the same time, it increases representation of black people on a platform often dominated by wealthy white tourists and shows off the beauty of the African continent often neglected by western news outlets.