'Stand up, Speak Up'

There is a lot of racism in European football. On national television everybody could see how Spain's coach Luis Aragones made racist comments about Thierry Henry. Eto'o was the subject of racist supporters, they made monkey sounds whenever he was in possession of the ball. It also often happens that supporters do the Hitler salute. There are numerous of other racist examples. This is very offending for the players themselves and the soccer fans.

Thierry Henry protested against this growing problem together with Nike. They launched the campaign  'Stand up, Speak Up' in 2005. The symbol of the campaign is a black and white wristband. Fans can wear this wristband to show their opposition against racism. The campaign also included television commercials and t-shirt designs. The wristband promotion raised 6 million Euro for the campaign.

I have a lot of respect for Thierry Henry for his decision to finally do something about the racism in football. I'm really offended by the racism that is still connected to the sport. Soccer should be a game to unite people, not dividing through racism. I also admire Nike for helping Thierry on his mission against racism. Nike associating its brand to this very positive social campaign was a great marketing success. The fact that 6 million Euro was raised with the wristbands show this even more. I hope other big brands will stand up against racism in the future too. It has showed that it has a great opportunity for marketing.