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The Hug A Brit movement was an independent social media campaign around the British EU membership referendum in June 2016.
Contents
Overview
Founded by a group of Londoners with European roots, the aim was to send the British people a "love bomb" to make them stay in the European Union. Europeans were hugging Brits and posting images of it on social media to encourage a Remain vote in the referendum. Photos and videos of those hugs were shared via Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and also became very popular in the traditional media in Britain and internationally. The campaign went viral just before the referendum in April and May 2016. Despite a strong voice in the media, the campaign was not able to turn around the vote, which resulted in an overall decision to leave the EU.
Positioning
While the official Remain and Leave campaigns focused mainly on the economy and migration, Hug A Brit became a significant part of the referendum campaigns by putting positive emotions in the centre. Instead of negative campaigning and scaremongering, the movement focused on personal stories and relationships and was therefore recognised widely as a positive outlier.
Nigel Farage
While Hug A Brit strongly advocated for a Remain vote, it did not exclude EU-sceptics from hugging. On April 15 Birgit Maass, Co-Initiator of the movement, hugged leading Leave campaigner Nigel Farage live on the BBC television.
Founding Members
Hug A Brit was founded by a group of European nationals living in the United Kingdom, without political affiliations to any party nor support or external funding. Founding member's nationalities include German, Austrian, Italian, Irish and Swedish, while backgrounds were diverse - including designers, artists, inventors, writers and medical doctors. Birgit Maass, Tessa Szyszkowitz, Paul Varga are founding members.
After the referendum it got quiet around the group. It is not known if further campaigns are planned around the British exit negotiations with the European Union.
The Europe State Award
#Hugabrit was nominated for the Europe State Award 2016 by the Austrian ministry for Foreign and European Affairs. The Europe State Award is an acknowledgement of initiatives that contribute towards promoting understanding of the EU and cohesion in Europe.