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Employment makes us equal[editar]

Employment is one of the pillars of social inclusion. Today, many Roma encounter great difficulty in entering the labour market through paid employment. Prejudices and stereotypes towards Roma act as barriers to employment. In order to combat these barriers, the Fundación Secretariado Gitano (FSG) launched the “Employment makes us equal” campaign in 2007. A picture, the box, was developed as a symbol of the pigeonholing to which the Roma population is subjected. Breaking out of the box and overcoming these prejudices served as a basis for the different elements of the campaign.

Four posters were created, which featured four Roma who used the tools of their respective trades to erase the margins of the box, symbolising the dissolution of stereotypes through their work.  These posters were adapted for press releases, folders or street furniture, among other advertisement outlets.

Based on the same idea, a TV spot was filmed, narrated from the perspective of a young Roma. Featuring music by Yann Tiersen, it describes how the Roma child is pigeonholed from birth, and how training and work allow Roma to get out of that box. This piece concluded with the phrase “In this country there are over half a million people struggling not to be pigeonholed”.

The campaign also featured two radio spots, one that insists on non-discrimination and the other that reports on the results of the Acceder programme, the employment programme of the FSG. One of the objectives of the campaign was to give visibility to the programme and to its results. To this end, a video-documentary was produced to disseminate the programme’s features, give visibility to its protagonists, and describe its results for the 2000-2006 period.

A postcard featuring thermal ink, which reproduced the job offers published in newspapers and blurred the latter when touched, stood out among the merchandising materials developed for the campaign. On the back of the postcard, the following message could be read: “This is what happens to more than half a million people in this country when seeking employment. The job offers disappear”.

The song "Like You" was composed specifically for the campaign by Antonio Remache, composer and worker of the Foundation.

Canción "Como tú"

The campaign also featured a webpage, which incorporated two games that sought to help internet users perceive the difficulties associated with feeling pigeonholed in a playful manner, in addition to all the information related to the campaign.

Institutional presentations

In late 2007, the campaign was presented in Madrid in the presence of the then-State Secretary for Social Services, Amparo Valcarce. The television presenters Ángeles Bazán and Juanjo Pardo acted as masters of ceremony. Subsequently, in 2008, the campaign continued to be disseminated in the different regions of Spain through public presentations. The latter took place in emblematic buildings or sites ceded by the public administrations, such as the Casa del Mar in Barcelona, the Casa de las Conchas in Salamanca, the Centro Cultural Conde Duque in Madrid, the Financial Club of Vigo or the Villa Suso Palace in Vitoria. These ceremonies attracted media attention by involving senior representatives of regional and municipal administrations, and were made possible by the involvement and participation of the staff of the FSG.

The campaign was disseminated via Spanish news programmes, taking advantage of the public presentations. The RTVE (Radio Televisión Española, public radio and TV group) Group collaborated by disseminating the spot for free, along with other local and regional media outlets, including the Grupo Promecal. The campaign also counted on the support of the Santander Bank, which sent an information leaflet along with the postal bank statements to its customers.

Campaign documents

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