KyivPride’s media campaign “Motherland Pride” won silver at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
“The world’s most prestigious award in the field of advertising, the Oscars in the field of creativity!” KyivPride, an LGBTQ advocacy nonprofit, posted on Facebook, “This is the first and only award in the history of Ukraine in the Outdoor nomination.”
The Cannes Lions Festival, which celebrates “progress through creativity,” has nine major themes with 30 different competitions ranging from Design, PR, Print and Publishing and more. Motherland Pride won silver in the Outdoor Lions competition within the Communications category.
Creative agency Saatchi & Saatchi Ukraine partnered with KyivPride and produced the “Motherland Pride” media campaign, which caused a stir last year.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic all pride events were cancelled during the summer of 2020, but KyivPride wanted to make sure that the LGBTQ community could still feel seen.
With help of the company Dronarium Ukraine, the agency used several drones to carry a large rainbow flag to the 102 meter Motherland Monument in Kyiv, filming it at such an angle that it looked like the statue was holding up a pride flag for all of Kyiv to see.
“If you cannot be seen, you cannot be heard,” a voice says in the Motherland Pride video.
The Motherland Pride campaign stirred much discourse last summer, with some Ukrainians not wanting the LGBTQ flag associated with one of Ukraine’s largest monuments. But others felt that it was good to look at the Soviet monument through a new lens and turn it into a symbol of gender equality.
“The homeland must protect everyone, regardless of orientation, cultural, social or other preferences,” Saatchi & Saatchi wrote in their facebook post announcing their win, “The recognition of the idea in Cannes, as well as the gradual acceptance of it by society, demonstrate that Ukraine is part of a democratic Western world that stands for the protection of the freedoms of its citizens.”
Several other media campaigns have copied the idea of bringing their own flags to the monument.
