'Human Billboard' Tattooed in Insults Protests Against Racism in France

On April 24th, the day following the first round of the presidential elections in France, Leo Burnett France and the CRAN launched an awareness campaign against racism. A man tattooed with racist insults all over his face and body walked around Paris to remind the French that racist insults leave lasting marks that are impossible to forget.

Racist insults leave real emotional scars that often never disappear. In order to illustrate this, Leo Burnett France collected testimonies of people that have experienced racist insults that they’ve never forgotten. These included celebrated TV journalists Harry Roselmack, Audrey Pulvar as well as other citizens that have been affected.

These insults — collected via social media, individual interviews and audio testimonies — were then tattooed onto the body of a man, transforming him into a ‘human billboard’, like a living canvas, in order to highlight these invisible wounds.

On April 24th, the 'Human Billboard' was at the Place de La République at 10am. He distributed leaflets to deliver the message of the campaign to passersby. The digital communication campaign started on the 22nd April on social media and a website.

"With this campaign #jeffaceleracisme, we want to alert the French to racist insults, the impact of which is often underestimated," explained Louis Georges Tin, president of the CRAN.