Last year, there were over 6,000 hate crimes reported in Wales. Every one of them hurt somebody. What we also need to understand is that hate hurts us all.
We know of course that even one act of hate is one too many. But we also know that there are myriad acts of kindness and humanity in Wales every single day. Our campaign seeks to engage that fundamental sense of national decency and recruit the weight of public opinion against all forms of hate crime. Attitudes and behaviours do change when there is societal and peer pressure against them, which we have seen with drink driving and smoking in public places. Behaviours that were once accepted and even ‘cool’, can in time, be regarded as shameful and even embarrassing.
Wales may be a small country, but it is also a very proud nation and one that is slowly growing in confidence. Any form of hate crime or prejudice is a stain on that national pride and confidence. We want everyone to see that hate will not be tolerated in Wales and that it is part of our individual responsibility to stand against it.
We worked together with the Welsh Government, Victim Support, and key partners representing the groups of people the campaign looks to protect to launch the ‘Hate Hurts Wales’ campaign. Running for its second year, our aim was to continue raising awareness of hate crime, the impact it has on victims and perpetrators, and most importantly, encouraging victims and bystanders to report and get support.
The focus was to empower the nation – making it clear that the responsibility to report is beyond the victims’, each one of us can play our part in tackling hate crime. To do that we moved ‘Stand up to hate crime together’ from being our call to action (our previous campaign) to become the campaign headline, switching to a rallying cry for Wales as a community as opposed to focussing on the victim.
The campaign hero film features victims and by-standers stood side by side, united and empowered, supporting each other, bringing to life the campaign concept and message that in Wales we stand up to hate crime together. It is about building a narrative around how community has the power, especially when it unites people in showing their support against hate crime. By doing this we aim to break down the barriers to reporting hate crime in society.
We show the victims that no matter who you are and what social circle you’re from, hate crime isn’t the norm and won’t be tolerated. It breaks down the bystander’s fear so that it feels safe to report hate crime as the community has your back. It also looks to deter potential perpetrators through peer pressure, showing them that their actions of hate have no place in Wales. The film was shared and promoted on social media and digital, targeted at potential victims and bystanders.
This campaign launched in October 2023, during National Hate Crime Awareness week. With an integrated media approach, it ran on ATL and BTL channels including TV, radio, OOH (located near football grounds and train stations with high footfall) mobile geo-targeting, social media and Google display and search.
Stakeholder and partnership engagement at a local level was crucial to support the campaign and PR. Partnership and campaign endorsement from high profile influencers such as Nigel Owens, Welsh former international rugby union referee, boosted the campaign exposure, reach and engagement. Having experienced hate crime in his career, Nigel is proud to use his platform to support Hate Hurts Wales and amplify the ‘stand up to hate crime’ message. He shared multiple posts across all his social channels showing his support for the campaign and linking to the webpage. His interview quotes were also featured on a Wales Online advertorial to support the overall message to encourage hate crime reporting in Wales.
Results
Against a challenging backdrop where National Hate Crime Statistics for England and Wales 2022/2023 show a 4% decrease in recorded hate crimes across the board. This decline could also be seen in the number of referrals received by Victim Support generally. Despite this the campaign achieved:
32% increase in contact rates (form, calls, emails or live chat) to Victim Support during campaign bursts compared to normal volume.
We also surpassed our target of 25,000 clicks to the Hate Hurts Wales Welsh Government landing page.
