Wyborowa Pernod Ricard: Absolut
Love over hate - creative fight against hate

H+K Warsaw created a campaign showing that in a world of intolerance, a spirits brand can stand up for people affected by hate.
Love Over Hate is the Polish edition of the global Absolut campaign to fight hate. The concept was tailored to local needs. It was created on the basis of local insights and a study conducted among Poles (which shows that nearly 25% of the respondents face hate every day). The Polish edition of the campaign focuses on encouraging consumers to creatively transform hate into a positive message. The unique concept (created specifically for the Polish market) is based on cooperation with ambassadors, who became the ‘voice’ of the society that says ‘stop’ to hatred.
We decided to start making a positive change from the space that surrounds us by engaging Internet users from all over Poland in a digital campaign. The aim was to map places full of offensive graffiti, slogans and images, select specific locations in Poland, clean them and use the paint from the removed hateful slogans to create an inspirational mural in the very heart of Warsaw, designed and painted by Paweł Swanski. The work carried a positive message, symbolising love, openness, tolerance and self-acceptance. The transformation of hate into love culminated in the illumination of the mural. However, to give publicity to the entire campaign, we approached Katarzyna Warnke, a person who has often been exposed to unfair hate. Katarzyna became the voice of all those who faced hate at some point in their life. During Flash Fashion Night she appeared in unusual make-up: her body was covered with hateful words, which she was upset by in her life and which stuck in her head forever. This extraordinary evening was the manifestation of Katarzyna’s and Absolut vodka’s protest against hatred. In interviews, the celebrity announced the start of a revolutionary campaign. The next day, the media was flooded with news about the actress’s involvement in the project, and the first post was published in her social media channels, encouraging Poles to fight hate together by reporting places full of hatred. The campaign culminated in the launch of a limited ‘Love’ edition of the Absolut vodka bottle.
