Credits

This bronze winner in the media category at the 2009 Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival was the brainchild of Brussels-based Famous. It was developed for Refugee Aid Belgium to address their concern about the criteria the Belgian government uses to decide which refugees can stay in the country and which have to be expelled, and focused on the notion that life-changing decisions can be made on arbitrary things like appearance in the absence of legal guidelines. Five refugees were placed in a glass house in the centre of Brussels and passersby were asked to participate in ‘The Refugee Game Show’ where they had to vote online for their favourite refugee based on simple facts like age, place of birth and looks. The winner would stay in Belgium, the rest would be deported. As it’s said, it’s all about location, location, location. Talk about a tough call. It’s like a really, really uncool version of Survivor.