Diversity & Inclusion Social Media Campaign Blends Culture and Food to Fight Anti-Asian Hate Yummy recipes and an anti-discrimination ethos make for one tasty social media campaignBy Mary Emily O'Hara|May 11, 2020 The "#MakeNoiseToday" campaign engages influencers and foodies to celebrate Asian culture while fighting hate.Make Noise TodayShare By Mary Emily O'Hara|May 11, 2020 Share Nothing brings people together across cultural divides quite like food, so what better way to combat hate and harassment than by sharing stories over a good meal?That’s the idea behind multicultural agency Intertrend’s new “#MakeNoiseToday” campaign, which brings Asian foodies and other influencers together to share recipes and speak out against anti-Asian discrimination.Launching Monday, the social-based campaign features restaurant owners like Tyson Ho of Brooklyn BBQ hotspot Arrogant Swine and Lindsay Jang of Hong Kong’s Yardbird and Ronin. Make Noise Today But it’s not all foodies. “#MakeNoiseToday” also features healthcare workers like virologist Chil-Yong Kang, creatives like partner of platform International Secret Agents Dan Matthews and diversity and inclusion advocates like Aerica Shimizu Banks, who oversees social impact at Pinterest. Make Noise Today Intertrend employed its in-house nonprofit Creative Class Collective and communications strategy consultancy Good Morning to craft the campaign. The Asian American Advertising Federation (3AF) and International Secret Agents partnered on the campaign as well.The May launch is timed to Asian Pacific Islander Heritage Month but was also designed to address the recent uptick in anti-Asian sentiment related to Covid-19.“When Asian Americans take our individual or collective stories out of the silo, we strengthen the discourse that is so needed at this moment to fight back against the rise of xenophobia and racial attacks against Asians,” said Intertrend president Julia Huang. “‘#MakingNoiseToday’ is just one way of encouraging Asians to speak up and be heard.” Make Noise Today On Instagram, the campaign kicked off a project called Recipe for Change on May 2. Each week, a different food influencer is invited to share a recipe and their thoughts on combatting anti-Asian bias. Health food brand Mylk Labs founder Grace Cheng offered up her puppy-shaped cookies in one post, and in the next post said, “The world does not need hate, now or ever, and being Asian, white, black, Hispanic, etc. does not matter right now.” View this post on Instagram Grace Cheng, Founder and CEO of @mylklabs, is making her voice heard - here is her #RecipeForChange. _____ I made these for my big brother's birthday. He has two shiba inus and absolutely loves them, so I thought it would be fun to make a ton of shiba cookies! A fun twist on a London "oat-biscuit" inspired by my time spent there from modeling. GF Shiba Inu Biscuits with Coconut Butter Glaze 1.5 cups whole rolled oats 1/2 cup pecans 1/3 cup shredded coconut 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 1/4 cup raw honey 1 tsp vanilla extract 1 tbsp almond milk, coffee or orange juice Pinch of Himalayan pink salt Coconut butter, melted Instructions: Preheat the oven to 300F. Combine all the dry ingredients in a food processor or blender. Blend then add wet ingredients & blend again. Batter should be sticky and hold together. Use 1tbsp to scoop onto a parchment lined pan. Flatten ALL the way down with your palm and shape them into how you like. (These do not spread at all). Use a cookie press if you have one, otherwise put it in the oven & bake for 20 minutes. Let the biscuits cool completely before eating as they will continue to harden up. Melt the coconut butter and glaze them however you like. ENJOY!! #MakeNoiseToday A post shared by Honoring AAPI Heritage Month (@makenoisetoday) on May 2, 2020 at 5:05pm PDT Instagram/Makenoisetoday The “#MakeNoiseToday” campaign has some big goals for the future. Intertrend hopes to work with educators on a toolkit to address bullying and racism, saying on the campaign’s website that “many Asian American children and teens (and their parents) fear going back to school in anticipation of being targeted and ridiculed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.”The firm also hopes to launch a small business initiative to support Asian-owned businesses hit hard by both discrimination and quarantine shutdowns. Standout amongst the industry’s best and give your employees something to celebrate. Become an Adweek Fastest Growing Agency and gain industry recognition for your success over the past three years (2017-2019). Submit today. Adweek Adweek