Etna: Mute Servant, a movement that aims to abolish the expression “criado-mudo”

ETNA promotes an activation on Black Consciousness Day and initiates a furniture name change. In partnership with TracyLocke | DDB brand creates a movement “Etna Mute Servant” that aims to abolish the expression “criado-mudo” (nightstand).

On Black Consciousness Day, ETNA, one of the most prominent decoration retailer in Brazil, will begin a movement to abolish the word “criado-mudo” (nightstand) in the Brazilians’ vocabulary. This expression came from the time of slavery when the slaves used to be standing the entire night by their "owners" bed and always available for work. This is a simple initiative that marks this important date for society. Now, ETNA will start calling the furniture as “bedside table”.

The movement will happen gradually until all physical stores and brand sites receive new communication. Parallel to this, Etna will invite other companies in the segment to abolish this market name along with it. Retailer suppliers will also be asked to exclude the racist term from packaging, manuals, and invoices.

The idea is to extinguish the name and make a minimal part of the difference to the issue of racial equality. To this end, TRACYLOCKE BRASIL I DDB, has created a 360 campaign and hashtag #CriadoMudoNuncaMais to make this commitment.

“Small gestures help transform the world. We want to show with this initiative that we can, even with historical facts, make people think differently and understand the importance of the current moment in Brazil and the world, which still faces so many cases of racism,” explains the agency’s CCO, Rodolfo Barreto.

For the movement to reach even more people, a movie has been aired in the digital environment showing real people telling the origin of the furniture name. They were invited to open the drawer of a nightstand and read a letter. When they finish, they discover how something that seems so simple shows the historical reality about the slaves. The idea is for people to forward the content forward so that the action has even more impact and the term racist is excluded from the vocabulary of Brazilians.

“We want to be simple and objective, proposing that people stop thinking of small acts and that can greatly change the way we approach racial issues in our country,” says Karina Alfano, Etna’s executive manager.

Credits
Advertising Agency: TracyLocke | DDB, Brazil
CEO: Thomas Tagliaferro
CCO: Rodolfo Barreto
Creatives: Thiago Dias, Guter Sá, Leandro Rosso, Débora Capriolli
Research: Cintia Quirino
CSO: Jader Crivelaro
Planners: Rafael Rebelatto, Natalia Feres
Head of Media: Lucia Cucci, Gustavo Gonzales
Media: Barbara Pinheiro
Account Manager: Michel Issa, Jonas Fortes, Flavia Cotrim, Camila Chapouto
Project Manager: Marthan Lion
Community Manager: Felipe Casas
Head of Production: Pedro Canuto
Producers: Jade Solano, Juliana Miyake
Director: Raphael Felisbino
Photograph Director: Wellignton Vidigal da Silva, João Leão
Casting Producer: Juliana Gomes
Producer: Rodriguinho Gonçalves
Sound Tech: Hudson Teixeira dos Santos
Editing: Raphael Felisbino
Casting: Aline Oliveira, Isabel Cristina dos Reis, Adriano Mateus da Silva, Bruno Souza, Fernanda Ross
Audio Production: Lucha Libre
Thanks to: Academia de Filmes, Gataria Filmes
Client approval: Karina Alfano

Tags:
Black Consciousness Day, Etna, Etna Mute Servant, DDB, DDB Mudra Group, #CriadoMudoNuncaMais, Criado Mudo Nunca Mais