MTA 'Hate Has No Place In Our Transportation System' - A Campaign to Combat Discrimination
Target Audience: This campaign targeted the 5.8 million daily riders of the MTA's subways, buses and trains, as well as major media outlets and other influencers.
Strategy Objective:By adapting station sign and mosaic art graphics that are familiar to all MTA customers, we endeavored to spread a message that encouraged riders to report hate crimes immediately to not only help reduce bias activity but to remind everyone of the core New York values of kindness, respect and solidarity. The campaign launched in historic Grand Central Terminal on the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp, and followed the abhorrent attack on a transgender woman in the subwayb the prior weekend. See https://www.flickr.com/photos/mtaphotos/albums/72157712861202417
Situation Challenge: The frequency of hate crimes – often taking the form of vandalism that spread messages of hate – had been increasing. The NYPD Transit Bureau investigated 75 hate crimes in 2019, a 42% increase over the 53 investigated in 2018.
Results Impact: This campaign succeeded in elevating public awareness of the spike in hate crimes in the transit system, and increased reporting of hate crimes significantly. The campaign also captured valuable earned media mentions by many NY metro news outlets, including: CBS News New York Post Newsday Bronx News 12 Mass Transit Magazine I Heart Radio WCBS Radio 880 Homeland Security Today The campaign was also positively received on social media: Twitter Facebook
Why Submit: Hate Has No Place demonstrated our ability, using only in-house creative resources, to produce an effective campaign in a matter of days to address a growing and critical social issue. The use of familiar graphics, laser focus on key takeaways (Respect, Kindness, Solidarity), and alignment with the 75th Anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz contributed to a highly-successful effort to deter hate crimes in our transportation system.