DONATE THE HATE - THE INVOLUNTARY ONLINE DONATION

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TitleDONATE THE HATE - THE INVOLUNTARY ONLINE DONATION
BrandZDK - GESELLSCHAFT DEMOKRATISCHE KULTUR GGMBH
Product/ServiceEXIT GERMANY
Category C03. Use of Social Platforms
Entrant GRABARZ & PARTNER Hamburg, GERMANY
Idea Creation GRABARZ & PARTNER Hamburg, GERMANY
Production HARVEST DIGITAL AGRICULTURE Hamburg, GERMANY
Additional Company ZDK - GESELLSCHAFT DEMOKRATISCHE KULTUR GGMBH Berlin, GERMANY
Credits
Name Company Position
Ralf Heuel Grabarz & Partner CCO and Partner
Jakob Eckstein Grabarz & Partner Creative Director
Matthias Preuss Grabarz & Partner Creative Director
Boris Horn Grabarz & Partner Programmer
Ulrich Erdmann Grabarz & Partner Digital Concept/Concept CD
Richard Pietsch Grabarz & Partner Digital Concept
Matthias Preuss Grabarz & Partner Creative Director
Tobias Lehment Grabarz & Partner Art Director
Florian Kronenberg Grabarz & Partner Art Director
Jakob Eckstein Grabarz & Partner Creative Director
Stefan Geschke Grabarz & Partner Creative Director
Lisa Weibezahl Grabarz & Partner Copywriter
Ina Bach Grabarz & Partner PR Manager
Joelle Timores Grabarz & Partner Account Supervisor
Axel Doepner Grabarz & Partner Agency Producer
Fabian Wichmann ZDK- Gesellschaft Demokratische Kultur gGmbH Head of Marketing
Jakob Eckstein Grabarz & Partner Creative Director
Matthias Preuss Grabarz & Partner Creative Director
Fabian Wichmann ZDK- Gesellschaft Demokratische Kultur gGmbH Head of Marketing

The Campaign

While politicians and the media kept discussing about the right approach, we came up with: the involuntary online donation initiative DONATE THE HATE. For every hate comment posted on Facebook, the campaign makes an “involuntary” €1 donation to refugees and EXIT.

Creative Execution

Our Facebook tool was given beforehand to (media) organisations affected by online hate comments. As our first supporters they sponsored the initial funding to put the campaign on air. The interface links the answered comments to the DONATE THE HATE microsite. Thus we are e.g. able to register the involuntary donations in a live-counter and list a top ten of the most generous donors, or rather hate commenters. With the campaign on air we are constantly winning more and more supporters – organizations and private individuals – for our cause.

DONATE THE HATE has spread internationally via traditional media and social networks – without a single Euro of media spend. Our hashtag reached millions of people. Two weeks after launching the campaign even Facebook got in touch, saying they wanted to support us. By now DONATE THE HATE is responding to more than 6,000 hate comments – interacting directly with the haters – and raising more than €14,000 for refugees and against neo-Nazis. The campaign is also currently being adapated in further countries.

Nazis against Nazis was a groundbreaking media idea by EXIT-Deutschland. But far right activists do not only spread their racism on city streets. With the refugee crisis in 2015, their hatred poured out onto the web – especially on Facebook. Thus the idea of involuntarly donating haters needed to be implemented into new context: by DONATE THE HATE. An online campaign that turns hate comments into an involuntary €1 donation for refugees. So what had been ironic banners and street graphics at neo-Nazi marches, now became automated, likewise worded Facebook comments and banners under thousands and thousands of hate posts.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

We have to respond to the authors of hate comments directly – in order to post an immediate, positive counter reaction to their hatred, and to turn each one of their comments into an involuntary donation for the good cause. Therefore we have programmed an innovative Faebook tool that enables us and our supporters to respond to hate comments in a personalized way. A simple bot could not have done the job, since even though hate comments are utterly moronic, they must be recognized by human intelligence.