Göteborgs-Posten newspaper has Swedes putting themselves up on display to experience prejudice firsthand

Anewspaper deliveres news, but that's not the only job of a journalist. A journalist should find the facts of any event and report them without prejudice. 
Göteborgs-Posten, a large broadsheet in Sweden with headquarters on the west coast in Sweden's second-largest city, Gothenburg, believe that a journalist's factual reporting can help raise awareness, increase understanding and help crush preconceptions. 

As the agency explains; 

"

Fake news, fast news and filter bubbles are big challenges within todays media landscape. They all create a narrower, twisted view of our world and have led researches to warn against growing prejudice in our societies. 

The solution, they say, is unbiased and well-researched journalism.

In order to create awareness of the growing prejudice in our society and the polarisation that it inevitably leads to, Stampen Media launched a social experiment in Gothenburg, Sweden called Visible Thoughts."

Many of us are acutely aware of the rarity of unbiased journalism these days.

So the agency created this social experiment, "Fördomstolen", which is a portmanteau pun meaning prejudice court, but also to pre-judge. 

The experiment was in a shop-window in the centre of Gothenburg. Brave participants were simply asked to sit in the window, and people outside would judge them based on their appearance alone. They could label the person by selecting words they thought fit, such as "middle class", "feminist", "highly educated", "humanist", "bisexual", single", "vegan", "trainer" and so on. 

The answers were shown in real-time in the shop window and online. The agency thinks this is the way we can all break out of our bubbles. Bubbles, in particular, are everywhere these days when people will carefully select who to follow (and who to block) on social media, which in turn silos us all into different corners. 

"Over 6000 people took part in the experiment. It not only created awareness around the subject in Sweden, it made people realise how lack of knowledge feeds our prejudices. Because only real knowledge and a better understanding of the world we live in can prevent us from keep judging each other.

The goal of the campaign was to start conversations around prejudice and to encourage people to want to get to know one another, outside of their own bubble. If we can make people realise that we all carry prejudice, we can also increase tolerance for what is considered different."

Client: Stampen Media

Agency: Stendahls, Gothenburg, Sweden