A shameless Nigel Farage attacks OBV

In a desperate bid to defend the indefensible, the UKIP leader Nigel Farage has sought to attack OBV and the poster we used to highlight the racial hatred the likes of his campaigning has caused. When asked about his vile 'Breaking point' poster, his response has been, "what about OBV's see saw poster."

For months Nigel Farage has fed the media with immigrant bashing, xenophobic rhetoric that has shamed our society and unleashed a strain of Far Right vitriol across the UK.

OBV were bold enough to call that bigotry out. Our “A Vote is a Vote” poster campaign created by the media giant Saatchi and Saatchi, illustrated the anger and xenophobia that has arisen as a direct consequence to anti immigrant rhetoric.

If anyone needed more proof about cause and effect around the increase of racism, then a recent poll in London clearly  showed that nearly 50% of Black and Asian people have been racially abused by strangers. 75% of those asked also stated that they thought their abusers were motivated by the discussion around the EU.

Our poster showed an uncomfortable truth highlighting what has been occurring because of the climate of fear and loathing.

We were also clear that the young man in the poster does not represent all white men, but a tiny minority inspired by the politics of blame and hatred. Our core message has been if you vote you neutralize the minority hatred vote.

In sharp contrast the UKIP poster , ‘Breaking Point’ launched on the day Jo Cox MP was killed by a ‘white supremacist’, was a particular low point in British politics, echoing the type of nasty Nazi posters the Third Reich would use against the Jewish community.

For a long time Nigel Farage has been normalising racial hatred to turn white Britons against foreigners. It’s a real shame.

Britain deserves a proper debate about immigration which many people wanted both Black and white, but without the toxicity and race hatred that Farage thought he could get away with.

Simon Woolley