Swan supporters urged to turn their back on the pitch to support Adam Goodes via 303Lowe
July 31 2015, 3:25 pm | | 15 Comments
Tomorrow 303Lowe, Sydney will hand out 10,000 leaflets prior to the Swans game which asks Swans supporters to stand up at half time, on the sound of the hooter, and turn their back on the pitch, in a show of support for Adam Goodes.
Says Nick Cleaver, CEO, 303Lowe: “We hope all Swans fans will join as one in support. If we are successful the image of the stadium standing with their backs to the pitch will be pushed out through social media as a powerful and evocative demonstration against racism.”
15 Comments
Advertising, desperately seeking relevance, is out of its depth on this one. Only a massive injection of intelligence into the moronic brains of the herd will overcome this problem. And that ain’t going to happen. A leaflet. Really? Preaching to the converted. There are many issues advertising can’t solve and this, despite what may be the best of intentions, is one of them.
To show your support, turn your back on Adam Goodes? Irrespective of which side of the issue you fall on, this is a terrible idea.
Surely turning your back, physically or metaphorically, to the game would be a negative thing…
Unfortunately most will simply do it because they’re heading to the bar.
If you’re at a game, every time they boo, cheer. We are many. Let’s drown them out…
#cheermore
We admire the sentiment, the stance, the copy ‘Turn Your Back on Racism . . . For Goodes’ is very clever, but the call to action is horribly misguided in our opinion.
It’s a negative action, as opposed to a positive one, as has been pointed out by previous commenters.
More importantly, it’s a unilateral initiative by an ad agency, one that does not appear to have been coordinated with the Swans, any of their fan organisations, with any legitimate community organisation who advocate against racism, with any Aboriginal organisation who fight racism on a daily basis, nor most importantly in consultation with Goodes himself.
Nick and 303 Lowe, please withdraw this altruistic but badly managed and badly timed initiative, before it risks failing to be the nearly unanimous action that it will have to be visibly in the stadium in order to succeed.
More importantly, withdraw before your initiative risks hijacking the positive vibe that will exist in the stadium, one hopes, when the Swans fans come together naturally, organically, of their own volition to cheer Adam’s picture on the stadium scoreboard when it appears, and it will appear, rather than turn their back on the field, the players, the game that Adam is so brilliant at playing, and the one we all hope he will return to playing soon.
A plea for withdrawal . . . for the sake of what’s really important here, even it’s at the expense of the agency’s reputation . . . hopefully the withdrawal will be seen as an afterthought to do the right thing and speak well of Lowe and you all for the attempt.
While I wholeheartedly support Adam Goodes, turning your back at a time when everyone leaves their seats is just a dumb idea, plain and simple.
Some agency trying to latch onto the issue is also rather transparent and pathetic, like the advertising industry itself really.
The uplifting and positive action of one 12 year old boy scribbling a number 37 on his arm, and the spontaneous way in which the gesture took hold has far outshined this unilaterally orchestrated and copy-written campaign by 303 Lowe.
Fans showered the field with cheers as the Swan put 37 pictures of Goodes up on the scoreboard, the last being a shot of him brandishing an imaginary speer.
The crowd pretty much turned it’s back on any halftime initiative aimed at turning there backs to the field.
Too bad Lowe never bothered to consult the Swans, the fan groups, the indigenous organisations, nor Goodes himself about their plan and the 10,000 leaflets they were going to litter the field with on Saturday afternoon.
Lesson learned by adland? Probably not.
can’t wait to see the case study
Agree with istandwithadam’s comment. At the match, one man’s initiative to stand and clap during the 7th minute of the 3rd quarter in honour of Goodsey’s 37 guernsey was much more powerful and was embraced by the 35000+ crowd.
Deep inside 303:
‘What’s current? What will win us an award?’
‘Something we can jump on to’
‘Something good.’
‘Noooo. Something goodes’
Cue back slapping.
‘Get the studio to mock this up’
‘Oh so good.’
‘What’s not to love?’
‘I smell Gold’
Sound of beers being opened. Lights turned off.
Turn your back means to ignore. Fail.
Not sure why I expected any different but the cynicism of you lot is so dull.
Critique the idea, but don’t pretend that you know of the intent – because, unless you work there, and I assume none of you do (I don’t either btw), then its just more unsubstantiated spite.
Halftime is probably the least unified time the crowd would be as they head to the toilets and the bars. And don’t the kids usually play on the field during the halftime break? Geez that would’ve have looked good.
Not very well thought out.
Terrible. The CD should’ve turned his back on this idea.