IDEA:

“Go Back To Africa” – A pan-African tourism campaign that turns a racial slur into an empowering call to action.

HOW IT WORKS:
We hijack hateful uses of the phrase “Go Back To Africa” as they happen on Twitter. Redact the racist context. Then use them as headlines for hyper-targeted ads for each of Africa’s 54 countries.

The ads drive to GoBackToAfrica.com – an AI-curated content hub designed to address the lack of representation in commercial travel imagery. A first-of-its-kind content platform, GoBackToAfrica.com contains 54 ever-growing galleries, organized alphabetically by African country, built with the express purpose of showing members of the Black community traveling in Africa.

The GoBackToAfrica.com content platform also powers programmatic banner ads that use interest-based targeting to connect our target with specific African countries.

BACKGROUND:
Between 1525 and 1866, more than 12.5 million African people were taken from their communities, loaded onto ships, brought to the West, and forced into slavery. Today, systems of oppression endure – including racialized language such as the “n word” and the slur, “Go back to Africa,” which is used every three minutes on social platforms alone.

Black & Abroad is an American travel brand serving members of the Black community. In efforts to merchandize African destinations to its target, it has found two key barriers:

1. Widespread misperceptions of Africa as a dangerous, undesirable destination.
2. Lack of representation of Black travellers in commercial travel imagery.

Our brief: Reinforce Black & Abroad’s position as a leader in redefining world experiences for the modern Black traveler.

INSIGHT:
MEANING IS MALLEABLE

When someone with racist intent says “Go back to Africa,” it’s hurtful. But if we could change the context, we could also change the meaning – and even how it feels to hear that phrase.

Our strategy has two pillars:

#1. DISPLACE THE HATE
Prior to launch, online search results for the phrase “Go Back To Africa” were almost unanimously negative. We saw value in establishing a positive counterpoint that exists in the same space. It’s why the campaign is called, “Go Back To Africa”. It’s why the website exists at GoBackToAfrica.com. And why our ads hijack hate where and when it happens. All efforts were in service of crowding out hate.

#2. REWRITE THE NARRATIVE
If we were successful in displacing the hate, we needed next to replace it with something. Here’s where the tone shifts to relentless positivity. It’s where we celebrate Africa, where we draw attention to the diversity of its 54 countries, and where we address the lack of representation of Black people in commercial travel imagery.

EXECUTION:
THE NEEDLE-HAYSTACK PROBLEM
To address the lack of representation in mainstream travel imagery, we turned to a vast archive of travel photography: social media. The challenge was locating relevant images within this collection (3.2 billion images added daily).

LOCATE AND CONTEXTUALIZE
Our algorithm starts by narrowing the pool to a manageable number (currently 2.8 million) based on pre-defined criteria (accounts followed, locations tagged, hashtags…). Next, it applies Google Vision AI, detecting faces, activities, objects, compositional strength, etc. The output is a pool of high-relevance imagery with rich contextual metadata.

“MAN AND MACHINE”
We used machines to compile, organize and shortlist a vast number of images (from approx. 2.8 million to 14,000). The final selects, however, were made by humans with knowledge of ethical principles such as “shadeism” – a type of racism that implies some shades of Black are better than others. Once a human has made a select, the AI learns from that choice, which then informs subsequent recommendations.

PROGRAMATIC FOR THE PEOPLE
We used Acxiom’s interest-based targeting platform to find and serve relevant social and digital ads to members of the Black community from a total of 6,840 possible creative variants.

RESULTS:
Brand Building
315% increase in brand visibility.
2x search interest in the brand.

Creating Desire
60% increase in booking interest for Black & Abroad’s upcoming African trips.
88% of our audience said their interest in visiting Africa had increased.

Changing Perception
89% of our audience said our campaign reduced the hate from the term “go back to Africa.” 52% now feel the term is “hopeful” or “empowering.”
92% feel that they know more about what Africa has to offer.

Community Reaction
Among members of the Black community, the response to the campaign has been virtually unanimous and positive – most clearly evidenced in the comments sections of the launch video. The most common reaction: “Dope!”

PR
“Turning white trolls into Black gold.” – AFROPUNK
“A galvanizing example of the power of words and our ability to mold their meaning.” – AdWeek