Soccer Games At World Cup And Beyond Become Rainbows With Vibrant Pride Filter
Image via Worth Your While Agency
Sporting teams are counting score for the number of times the LGBTQ+ community has been whitewashed. For one, the US men’s national soccer team has been displaying the rainbow flag to show its support for some years now.
With Qatar playing host to the World Cup this year, its human rights challenges are being painfully broadcasted to the world. Although the nation has dismissed speculations that rainbow flags will be turned away, its stance was once again put into question when members and fans of the Football Association of Wales had their rainbow hats confiscated by security personnel.
In short, if you think the main World Cup venues will be painted in the colors of Gilbert Baker’s Pride flag this year, you have another think coming. Regardless, spectators won’t have to put their causes on pause because of the games. Copenhagen Pride and marketing agency Worth Your While have created an Instagram filter that can supposedly turn any soccer pitch into a rainbow arena.
The ‘Proud Pitch’ effect was actually introduced during the Euros 1/8 finals last year, after the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) rejected the lighting up of the Allianz Arena stadium in Munich in rainbow hues. Now, with the World Cup, coupled with Qatar’s criminalization of same-sex relationships, the message for solidarity rings louder.
“Human rights are not politics. There are two positions: Either all people have the right to rights—or the opposite. And if you stand in opposition, you are on the wrong side of history,” Copenhagen Pride spokesperson Lars Henriksen proclaimed last year.
Morten Ingemann, a partner at Worth Your While, says the filter is “not perfect, but we would rather be fast than flawless.”
To locate the AR effect, Instagram users can either look up “Proud Pitch” on the filter gallery or simply click here. They can then activate it by pointing their phone cameras at their television or soccer pitch, and then share the footage to drum up support for Pride.
Image via Worth Your While Agency
[via Worth Your While Agency]
