It’s here! IOGT International’s flagship campaign for women’s rights and gender equality and the eradication of alcohol violence has arrived and with it a beautiful and powerful Community Action Guide consisting of a clockwork of grass-roots actions that together make up a global movement to inspire freedom…

It’s here!

Our new campaign I have been mentioning for some time has arrived and I am very proud of it. Inspire Freedom Campaign. We have been working on developing the concept, branding, messaging and designing it for more than six months. Ideas and insights were falling in place like pieces of a puzzle and brought us to this point finally.

Inspire Freedom summarizes our work for women’s rights. It opens doors for grass root activities, awareness raising and advocacy work. Each part of it is thought through, supports the other parts and bears a great meaning on its own.

It is designed for everyone. Big and small, few or many. It suggests concrete activities and leaves space for your creativity and adjustments to your conditions.

A clockwork of actions #InspireFreedom

The uniting principles are that we do it all together, we do it everywhere and that everyone can do it.

We have produced a Community Action Guide that introduces the main pillars of the campaign, suggests concrete actions and provides background facts. I will not go deep into each section as it is just to click here and take alook into the Guide but I will tell a bit more about the meaning of each part.

Cover of the brand new Community Action Guide #InspireFreedom

The Magic Drink is at the moment the one part that excites me the most.

As we all know very well that it is not the ethanol in alcoholic beverages that makes people to heroes with extra powers and enhanced social skills, the alcohol industry anyway managed to make many people believe so.

We are going to take the real magic back and claim the word “drink” back as well. Prepare your drinks. Mix and shake and decorate, enjoy it and share it.

I can’t wait for the day when many types of alcohol-free drinks will be available in bars and restaurants and will be marked by the Magic Drink drink logo to be easily recognised.

If you are in need of inspiration, check out the Magic Drink Facebook fan page. If you are full of inspiration, share your recipes and pictures of alcohol-free drinks on the same page.

#InspireFreedom concept for #MagicDrink

Pasting a photo of you in your community to say out loud that alcohol related violence is a no go serves many purposes:

  • It claims back the pubic space from omnipresent Big Alcohol marketing.
  • It combines art and a good cause.
  • It turns public space into an open, free art gallery making culture accessible to all.
  • It is a great team-building activity raising awareness about what is still a taboo among many.

Say it our loud by a picture of you pasted in public space – for example in front of bars, on the roofs, sidewalks, walls. There are many options to express that violence is not to be excused by alcohol use.

Not only that we claim the public space back. We also make it our stage. There are myriads of simple ways to mobilize people to raise awareness. A silent disco is just one of the ideas. Challenging the reality of the staff working in bars and restaurants is another way. And it does not cost more than one drink in the end.

Pasting against alcohol violence #InspireFreedom

There are millions of people who associate alcohol with violence and who prefer alcohol free environments to feel safe.

There are thousands of them but none really asks for their opinion. Inspire Freedom gives them voice and us the strongest tool – a crowd behind our demands for the next step – advocacy work.

Flashmob creatively to raise awareness and #InspireFreedom

Advocacy work is easy when you know what you want and when you make your case obvious. With the public support rising from the previous activities and facts provided in the Community Action Guide, you are good to go and contact decision makers calling for their support and commitment to action.

All the activities are easy to mix and match the way it suits you best.

As I said, I am very proud of this Campaign. I can’t wait to see its development and what is even more important the changes it is going to bring to the current alcohol norm.

Mix and match for success

Now I go and send the first bunch of portraits for the printing so the pasting can start.

I hope you feel excited about Inspiring Freedom for many, at least as much as I do. Good luck and see you out there!

For further information:

Do you want to listen to the vision of JR, the founder of the Inside Out Project, whose concept and platform Inspire Freedom uses for the pasting actions?

And feel welcome to check out the philosophy and evidence behind Magic Drink: