The anti-racism banana campaign that is sweeping across social media was the pre-planned brainchild of Neymar, Dani Alves and a marketing firm, according to reports in Spain.
Pictures of prominent personalities eating bananas flooded the internet after Barcelona ace Neymar posted a similar snap of himself in support of Dani Alves, accompanied by the hashtag ‘#WeAreAllMonkeys’.
However, Spanish paper AS claims that it was a campaign planned well in advance, after the Brazilian duo were racially abused at Espanyol back in late March.
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Together with marketing agency Loducca, Neymar and Alves planned to eat the next banana thrown at them live in front of a TV audience, and use that moment to kick-start a social media campaign.
Within minutes of Alves eating a banana thrown at him on the pitch, Neymar tweeted his picture, which has been mimicked by a host of high-profile sportsmen, celebrities and political figures.
Guga Ketzer, partner in advertising agency Loducca, who allegedly worked on the project with Brazilian marketers Meio e Mensagen and the Neymar camp, told AS: ‘Actions speak louder than words.’
‘A gesture needs no translation and what we’re seeing is that this has gone viral, globally. The idea was for Neymar to eat the banana, but in the end it was Alves, and that works just the same.
‘The best way to beat prejudice is to take the sting out of the racist action so it isn’t repeated.
‘We created #somostodosmacacos and #weareallmonkeys, with the gesture of eating a banana, and it has been turned into a movement.’
