Campaign uses invoice to fight racism in commerce – 04/24/2023 – Market

With the aim of drawing attention and making people aware of the various types of racist aggression practiced in retail, the “Notes of Respect” campaign was created by the advertising agency Gray Brasil, as part of the ‘Racismo Zero’ program, developed by Unive Zumbi dos Palmares.

The aim is to invite companies to join the program, which aims to fight racism in consumer spaces through complaints and employee training, granting an “anti-racist company” seal to those that eliminate cases in their establishments, ranging from persecution to customers by security teams the false accusation of theft.

The campaign is divided into two parts. In the first, posters will be posted in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Brasília with invoices collected from people who have already suffered this type of violence, explaining why they carry the document to prove that they are the owners of some object.

“As I was leaving the store, a security guard put his hand on my chest and asked for the invoice for the bike he had bought. As a black person, I felt humiliated”, says one of the reports.

“Being obliged to show the note of what is yours to prove that it is yours is one of the acts of racism that happen in commerce. But now, the note itself is a way of fighting against it”, amends the text printed on the receipt.

The second stage of the campaign will invite commercial establishments to be part of the program, through a tool that transforms the invoice, a symbol of this type of racism, into a channel of protest and denunciation.

Companies can download the software free of charge to be used in invoice printers. It works like any other invoice, but features a QR code in the shape of a clenched fist, a symbol of black resistance, which directs consumers to an emergency service portal, where it is possible to make complaints and find legal and emotional advice.

The notes printed by the software will bring real stories of black citizens who faced situations of racism in their daily lives, having to prove that they did not steal or steal something that was theirs.