Friday 22 September 2017

#LivingIsWinning – Olympics inspire refugee awareness campaign




 
No matter the distance, the height or the fight

For them, living is already winning

#LivingIsWinning



Athletes perform amazing physical feats to win; men, women and children fleeing war, poverty and violence also surpass themselves. But they do it simply to survive.



This parallel struck two young French creatives, who wanted to counter the negative portraits of refugees in the media. They took the opportunity of the official announcement of Paris 2024 Olympics to talk about the dangerous journey many refugees have to take – crossing lands, deserts and seas and facing countless obstacles - in order to win their right to live.



The result is  “Living is Winning”, a refugee awareness campaign launched on September 14, the day after Paris was officially set to host the 2024 Olympics.



The campaign, which features a series of posters, three films and a campaign website, was created and directed by Valentin Guiod (Josiane Paris) and Min-Hyung Choi (AdamandeveDDB London), with the support of Josiane and OTSO Paris, and led by La Cimade, an independent humanitarian organisation protecting refugees’ rights.



“In France, some people started to see migrants as hobos whereas they are just humans who are forced to leave everything, surpassing themselves to flee conflict and persecution,” explains Min-Hyung Choi. “This idea of surpassing yourself rang a bell.  They are doing it not to win golds, but just their right to live with dignity. Then there was this debate on Paris 2024 in the French media, which we saw as the perfect opportunity to bring back another debate on the table.”



Their initiative has received lots of support, including from the award-winning photographer Espen Rasmussen, who lent his images to the campaign - and was extensively covered in the French media and on social media with more than 140k views and 2900 shares on Facebook.  



Now, they want to spread their message to an international audience. So please, do share it.



#LivingIsWinning