The Jewish Federation Council of Greater Los Angeles, in partnership with Outfront Media, has launched a billboard campaign to counter the hate of antisemitism by spreading positive messages of love and hope.
Spearheaded by Rob Goldenberg, Federation’s chief creative officer and his team, 10 billboards with positive Jewish-theme messages have been placed around the greater Los Angeles area including Pico-Robertson, the Valley, Venice, West Los Angeles and downtown.
“Outfront Media called us about six weeks ago aware of what’s happening in our community and said they wanted to work with us to put out positive messages,“ Goldenberg said. “We immediately got to work, selecting sayings that highlight Jewish wisdom and teachings. Some of the sayings were suggested by Rabbi Noah Farkas, President and CEO of the Federation, as well as Rabbi Shlomo Seidenfeld and others. The objective was to show that the Jewish response to darkness is to be a light unto the world because right now we need it.”
Goldenberg continued: “The constant antisemitism that Jews here in Los Angeles and around the country and world are seeing has had a devastating impact on our community. We wanted to push back with love – to counter the hate by spreading love and not only to Jews in Los Angeles.”
Outfront is donating the space for the billboards which will remain up “in perpetuity,” according to Goldenberg. The billboards will move around the Southern California landscape when billboard space becomes available.
While creating the campaign, Federation worked to assure the messages would resonate with all communities, not just in Jewish areas. They worked with an advertising agency that specializes in marketing to Hispanic and African-American audiences to craft the selected sayings so they would have the desired positive impact. In some cases “a word here and there” was changed to better resonate with all ethnicities and religions regardless of their Southern California geography, Goldenberg explained.
The campaign was rolled out on the fifth day of Chanukah to coincide with the concept of spreading light in the face of darkness. Federation noted that a 2021 LA County Hate Crime Report found that in religious-based crimes, the Jewish community has been targeted in 74% of the cases.
Phrases such as “A little bit of light dispels a lot of darkness,” “Change your thoughts and you’ll change the world,“ Any racism diminishes all of us,” and “The world stands on justice, truth and peace,” are just some of the messages that are part of the campaign.
“It has been extremely upsetting to see the recent rise in hateful speech taking place,” Bryan Canley, general manager of Outfront’s Los Angeles office said. “There is no place for that in Los Angeles, or anywhere else. We are all part of one community, and it is important to stand in solidarity with our Jewish Angelenos.”
The initial campaign locations include:
La Brea Ave and 23rd St., Los Angeles
Pico Blvd. and Hauser Blvd. Los Angeles
Sepulveda Blvd. and Olympic Blvd, Los Angeles
Pico Blvd. and Robertson Blvd, Los Angeles
Ventura Blvd and De Soto Ave., Woodland Hills
Ventura Blvd. and Winnetka Ave, Woodland Hills
Ventura Blvd. and Otis Ave, Tarzana
Venice Blvd. and Lincoln Blvd, Venice
Venice Blvd. and Jasmine Ave., Palms
Burbank Blvd. and Van Nuys Blvd., Van Nuys
More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.