Did you know that gay men in the UK cannot give blood? Well, they can, but only if they did not have sex for over a year. This non-sense comes from the fact that UK legislation results from texts that were written and voted many years ago, and that no-one thought to change. Until now.
Cheil UK is launching a new social initiative, #PutRedBack, which aims to raise awareness of the restrictions on gay men donating blood, and to help shift the debate. All they need is 100,000 thousands signatures – or tweets – to force the British parliament to change this law.
Also Read: Facebook Reveals What Its “Empathy” Button Could Look Like
The #PutRedBack campaign was born during the Powered By Tweets competition, run by Twitter last Spring. The competition aimed to find ideas on how Twitter can drive innovation and/or change the world for the better.
As a competition winner, #PutRedBack has now been launched at the London Design Festival exhibition at Somerset House with an innovative tweet-powered sculpture. The installation, which will be on display from 21-27 September, features a striking, fluid-filled rainbow flag form. Each band of the rainbow is composed of a layer of liquid that has separated naturally into individual colours.
Visitors will be encouraged to tweet #PutRedBack including @putredback. For every tweet, a single drop of red liquid falls into the top, clear layer of the flag, symbolising ‘wasted’ blood donations. Only when the 100,000 mark has been reached will the layer be filled red. Putting the red back into the rainbow.
If you like our stories, there is an easy way to stay updated:
Follow @wersm
As well as showing their support via the hashtag, visitors will be encouraged to become one of 100,000 signatories to Freedom to Donate’s petition on putredback.com that will lead to a parliamentary debate on current blood donation guidelines.
Tim Polder, Innovation strategist at Cheil UK, came up with the idea based on his knowledge of the earlier blanket blood donation ban on gay men, something he learned of while training to be a doctor in the Netherlands:
[quote]Current blood donation guidelines are based on an outdated notion of safety that targets gay men irrationally. Yes, there should be guidelines, but they should be based on the behaviour of all potential donors and not on their sexuality. Under current guidelines, it’s difficult for gay men to save lives by making a contribution to blood stocks.[/quote]
#PutRedBack is a great illustration on how Twitter, and social media in general, can be used to build a better society. Will you support it?
Our #PoweredByTweets installation at #LDF15 is going strong! Retweet to show your support #PutRedBack @PutRedBackhttps://t.co/QjmTjBfYnn
— Cheil UK (@CheilUK) September 22, 2015
You might also like
More from Creative Campaigns
The Reality of Careers in Social Media: Insights from Hootsuite’s Latest Report
What’s it really like to work in social media? Hootsuite’s CMO, Elina Vilk, delves deep into the current landscape of …
Do Google SEO Tactics Work on Social Media?
Do the SEO tactics we use on Google also work on social media? In this article, Hootsuite's Inbound Marketing Strategist, Liz …
YouTube Is Testing AI-Generated Video Summaries
YouTube has recently started testing a new feature that automatically generates summaries of videos using AI.
Meta Prepares To Launch AI Personas To Retain And Engage Users
According to industry sources, Meta is preparing to launch its AI personas feature in an effort to increase engagement with …
TikTok To Discontinue TikTok Now, Its BeReal Clone
TIkTok is pulling the plug on TikTok Now, its BeReal clone, a little over nine month after it was first …
Miller Lite Created Beer Ice Cubes To Cool Your Beer
The Miller Lite Beer Cube Tray lets you freeze beer into small iced beer cans so you can keep your …
Meta Launches ‘Meta Quest+’ VR Subscription For $7.99
The new Meta Quest subscription will give you access to the top titles on the device every month. It costs …
New Feature Helps Creators Choose The Best YouTube Thumbnail
YouTube is trialling a new "Test & Compare" feature that helps creators choose the best YouTube thumbnail for their videos. The …
YouTube Is Adding AI-Powered Dubbing
YouTube is integrating the team from Aloud to help you dub your videos in other languages with the help of …
