We saw this campaign as a breakthrough in Slovakia. It raised the sensitive topic of hidden racism and intolerance, which could not only be felt in the air, but could be seen primarily in online discussions. The fact that “wariness” towards people of a different skin color is still present in our country, and that the country under the Tatras lives more by prejudice than by colors, was confirmed by a national survey. Even though Slovaks today have different skin colors, it is still very surprising to hear someone with dark skin speak pure Slovak.
To show that Slovakia is diverse and that it suits us, we chose Natalie Dong, born in Dubnica nad Váhom, as the face of the campaign. She is Slovak, speaks Slovak, has a Slovak mother, and has lived in Slovakia all her life.
In Natalie we found a wonderful overlap with Slovak culture. It was her connection as a singer to the notorious folk song Slovenské mamičky, which we remixed into a contemporary club track.
Although we initially bet on reaching out to a handful of influencers, we didn’t expect more than 100 of their Slovak colleagues from various fields ranging from lifestyle to politics to spontaneously join the campaign. We agreed with over fifty Slovak artists and created a branded playlist of tracks about tolerance or racism, all with a party mood. In collaboration with Spotify, we raised money for the non-profit organization People Against Racism. The themes of Slovakness, race, and nation have thus penetrated the mainstream. The campaign was written about, talked about at work, in the pub and among families, became the subject of talk shows on TV and radio, and even provided the lyrics for rap tracks or ethics education in schools. Over 16,000 different media outputs helped generate a literally incredible reach.
