Unsafety Check

By J. Walter Thompson, New York, USA

For Black Lives Matter

Crème de la Crème in category Digital

WPPED Cream
WPPED Cream
WPPED Cream
WPPED Cream
Project Description
The Washington Post declared “Black America is in a state of emergency.” Black people are being harassed, beaten and killed while doing everyday activities such as walking to school, sitting in a car or even when calling for help. In a year when hate crimes rose as high as 35% percent and the election of the most controversial President in American history. Black Lives Matter needed a way to raise awareness and foster empathy in all Americans – Black, White and everything in between. 
Facebook has rolled out the “Safety Check” which lets people declare themselves safe in national emergencies. But we wanted to build awareness of how unsafe Black Americans feel. So we hacked this tool to create a simple and provocative social web app called the “Unsafety Check”. Black people could mark themselves unsafe, to declare how they feel. And by sharing the issues of Black Lives Matter with family, friends and all their followers, it makes the message personal.
Agency Solution
The social web app launched as part of Black Lives Matters’ week of action, which encouraged supporters of racial equality to get involved in daily activist-oriented tasks between Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Trump’s Inauguration.
- Leveraged popular advocates to amplify our message and grow our reach.
- Designed for mobile first.
- Our development team utilized the Facebook and Twitter API.
- To intelligently utilize their functionality, collect user data, and control the messaging.
- Controlling the message was important to Black Lives Matter, to prevent messages of hatred and racism, which they experience all the time.
- Social media users of all colors could also share a post to show their solidarity.
- We also gave users the opportunity to anonymously share personal and important stories of when they felt unsafe. Which helped us create social content.
- Driving traffic back to the Black Lives Matter website where people could learn how they can take action.
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