WE CALL FOR A M1NUTE OF SILENCE FOR THE VICTIMS OF THE FIFA WORLD CUP IN QATAR
Published: Dec 9, 2022 Reading time: 2 minutes
People in Need, in cooperation with the media agency VCCP, has prepared a campaign: A M1NUTE OF SILENCE. This campaign seeks to draw attention to the conditions of migrant workers who participated in constructing the infrastructure of the currently culminating World Cup in Qatar. The campaign is a response to the World Cup's high viewership despite the controversy accompanying the tournament. M1NUTE OF SILENCE calls for a minute's silence to honour the memory of the thousands of workers who lost their lives on Qatari World Cup construction sites in the last decade.
In its analysis, the British news website The Guardian drew attention to the unsatisfactory conditions, human rights violations and more than 6,500 deaths during construction. The depths of this scandal came to the fore, especially before the start of the championship. Human rights groups have repeatedly criticised the host country for insufficient worker safety, low wages and the insufficiently investigated deaths of thousands of workers. However, despite the criticism of humanitarian organisations and a partial boycott of the championship, the tournament's viewership is breaking records worldwide.
"Our organisation has long been striving for an informed, committed, and responsible society that is not indifferent to problems at home or beyond the borders of our country," explains Adriana Černá, media coordinator of People in Need. "In the Czech Republic, more than half a million viewers watched the matches in the group stages; with the elimination matches, the public's attention will increase even more. Although the fans' enthusiasm for football is understandable, we also wanted to draw attention to the dark side of the whole event," she adds.
The A M1NUTE OF SILENCE (M1NUTA TICHA) campaign from the workshop of the VCCP agency uses the format of a one-minute video without a soundtrack, which is complemented by a series of four visuals. Suggestively, they draw attention to the unacceptable working and living conditions of workers in Qatar. "The public discussion very quickly turned from human rights violations in the country to the results of the matches. With the knock-out games, viewership for the championship can be expected to grow even further, and when the winning team lifts the championship trophy above their heads, we should not forget the sacrifices they made. With the championship climax coming, we don't want the fans' screams to drown out what matters most - human rights," comments Lluis Rotger, Head of Design at VCCP, on the campaign's background.
The campaign will run online from December 9. This is our first collaboration with the VCCP agency. Martina Crepulja created the illustrations for the campaign.
