When Edinburgh found itself at the top of Scotland’s league table
for racially-motivated incidents last year, the Council decided to take
action.
Ethnic community groups were requesting a more strategic response to
racism in the city, and the Council felt it needed to convince these
groups and the public that the authorities were handling racist
incidents in an appropriate manner.
Objectives
To inform ethnic minorities that racism will not be tolerated and that
racist incidents will be responded to. To create a hard-hitting
publicity campaign to raise awareness of racism among Edinburgh’s
citizens.
Tactics
The council co-ordinated a forum including Lothian and Borders Police,
Lothian Health, the Chamber of Commerce and anti-racist groups from the
voluntary sector.
The plan was to devise a hard-hitting series of messages and initiatives
aimed at the citizens of Edinburgh, opinion formers, the media and
councillors to get people to consider their own behaviour from a racist
point of view.
The campaign was launched by Secretary of State for Scotland Donald
Dewar through the unveiling of a giant poster showing an Asian man, a
black man and an oriental woman, with the slogan, ’If this is a Paki, a
Darkie and a Chinkie, you’re a racist’, designed by the Leith Agency.
Five thousand copies were distributed across the city with 3,300
leaflets giving information and advice on reducing racial
harassment.
The controversial nature of the ad campaign was exploited to achieve
maximum coverage in local and national press, and all reports of racist
incidents were used to publicise the initiative. A new mechanism was
developed for monitoring and responding to racial incidents on a
multi-agency basis. This was promoted through council newsletters and by
the individual agencies involved.
Talks and presentations were held in the city and councillors held
meetings with the business community and voluntary sector to communicate
the campaign’s message.
Results
The campaign received extensive coverage in the local and national
media, including the Express and Daily Mail, and the issues raised by
the campaign were debated at length. Police have noted a 30 per cent
increase in the number of reported racially-motivated incidents, showing
that people are more ready to come forward with reports. The campaign
won awards from the IPR and the Commission for Racial Equality, and it
is now recognised as a best practice model for other European cities.
The council was granted pounds 14,000 of EU funding, which enabled the
campaign to continue beyond its original cut-off date of February
1998.
Verdict
As the campaign is ongoing and the objective is to change people’s
attitudes, the real impact of the initiative cannot be gauged for some
time yet.
However, local authority liaison officer Sergeant Dinesh Joshi of
Lothian and Borders Police says a fundamental change in attitude has
already taken place. ’By using a simple and stark message, the campaign
has definitely made people stop and think, and they are clearly more
confident in coming forward with reports.’
Client: Black and Ethnic Minority Community Safety Working Group
(Edinburgh)
PR Team: City of Edinburgh Council and Crossan Communications
Campaign: Co-ordinated Action against Racism in Edinburgh (CARE)
Timescale: October 1997-on-going
Budget: Approximately pounds 15,000
