There’s so much hate online, constantly fueled by social media. National Book Store, the Philippines’ biggest book store, discovered that people who read more books are more considerate and less likely to pass judgment because reading broadens the mind. So they wanted to lessen the hate by encouraging people to read more books.
On the same social media that allows hate to proliferate, we hijacked hundreds of trending topics on Facebook. In real-time, we intercepted comments of hate, replying with beautiful artwork of lines from well-known books and authors encouraging kindness and understanding, with a call to action to read more in order to hate less, as well as a link to lead them to the online store where they could purchase the book.
The strategy was simple: use the same social media platforms they use to spout hate, but repurpose it to spread kindness and understanding instead. We targeted online users who spread hate using social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Online publications on Facebook and Twitter were a rich hunting ground, like many issues in the world today trigger a lot of hate. National Book Store refreshed its equity in the minds of Filipinos as the largest book store, with thousands of titles found on their shelves, both in-store and online, and reinvigorated the desire to read books.
From November 2018 to February 2019, we used a social listening and scanning platform, and targeted online haters. Instead of responding in kind, we responded with kindness on Facebook feeds of highly trending topics. Those we replied to and anyone within the feed who saw it was invited to #ReadMoreHateLess simply by clicking on a link which led them to National Book Store’s website, where they could immediately purchase the book from which the quote was lifted.
Kidlat Awards | Gold | Creative Purpose
Spikes | Finalist | Social Purpose
New York Festival | Finalist | Promotion of Peace: Brand
Ad Stars | Finalist | Social Purpose
Gerety Awards | Finalist | Works for Good