Hungry Minds and the Wallonia-Brussels Federation,
on the frontline against racism

Unfortunately, racism is still very present in our society. And at the origin of major discrimination phenomena, we often find little jokes, not at all funny and full of prejudice.

 

The challenge

Racism is ageless. How can we make secondary school students aware of the issue of racist prejudice?

 

The idea

To raise awareness, Hungry Minds chose to use a social experiment, conducted in 3 secondary schools in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation. Pupils were able to attend a tattooing session on the school premises. At first amused, they were then able to measure the seriousness of what was happening in front of them. There were no tribal motifs or butterflies. The tattoos represented "racist jokes" that are thrown around for laughs in class. Deeply shocked, the students were able to make the connection between these inappropriate phrases and the lifelong impact they have on those who hear them.

 

In the wake of this social experiment, the after movie of which is broadcast on social networks, Hungry Minds has also set up a poster campaign, an Instagram account and a website, pasdrole.be, whose mission is to gather and then deconstruct racist prejudices. Pupils can contribute to the platform with sentences they have heard or experienced. A panel of experts analyses each contribution before deconstructing it with scientific rigour.

Finally, the campaign is also available on TikTok and Instagram with influencers on the principle of "Try not to laugh" challenges. Several comedy sequences follow one another, the aim being to resist the urge to laugh. A racist sketch is inserted into the sequences. The influencer is then shocked and invites his community to stop laughing at racist prejudices.

 

The elements of the campaign

 

The after movie of the social experiment

 

The posters

The Campaign website

pasdrole.be

The Campaign's Instagram account

instagram.com/pasdrole.be