Partners Czech, as part of its work on the Roma Integration Program, collaborated with advertising experts to develop a Public Service Announcement (PSA) challenging traditional stereotypes of Roma in Czech society. The spot, entitled ‘Be Aware of Your Prejudices,’ will be shown on two national Czech stations during primetime for a month starting October 16, 2006.

The PSA begins with a non-Roma Czech male having just boarded a Prague tram. When he suddenly realizes his wallet is missing, the man blames a Roma youth, assuming he has stolen the wallet. In the end, a young girl points out that the missing wallet is on the floor of the tram car, and the man, embarrassed, realizes his mistake. In the final frame, a slogan in Czech reminds viewers to “Beware not just of your possessions, but also of your prejudices.”

Partners-Czech will expand the breadth of this television spot through disseminating it through cinemas, radios, metro-vision, printed materials, the web and discussions/press conferences. The ad campaign is targeted towards adolescents and young adults who may not hold radical assumptions about Roma, but who are certainly swayed by societal prejudice.

A critical part of this initiative will be eliciting the support of Roma leaders in the Roma Integration Program’s target Czech communities – Bruntál, Pardubice and Chomutov – as campaign collaborators. Many of these individuals participated in a Partners-Czech cooperative advocacy workshop and are eager to have a practical outlet with which to use these skills. They will assist with presentations in the localities, provide updated information to local media, and will disseminate campaign materials to local and regional institutions and administrations. They will also use their communication and cooperative advocacy skills to facilitate discussions about the campaign with members of their communities and local administration representatives, and will work with Partners-Czech to coordinate press conferences in each of the communities.

Please click here to download the video (7MB)

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