A meeting of minds in a new inspirational forum…
Pub pint favourite Heineken has joined forces with a unique platform, the Human Library, as part of a new campaign that seeks to promote unity and openness. The Open Your World campaign is inspired by the age-old act of sitting down and opening up over a beer with friends. What could be more natural? And yet, in a world where it’s easy to spot the difference between people, Heineken is hoping to bring together a world of strangers in a unique, collaborative project.
I went down to the Library Club in Leicester Square to find out all about the campaign. Not quite sure what to expect, I found myself pleasantly surprised. It took me a while to get my head around the concept of The Human Library, but I’m so excited to have been introduced to it. It’s a gem of an organisation.
The idea: The books…are people. People from all walks of life, with mind-blowing, provocative, inspiring stories. People who’ve survived abuse and warfare. People from across the LGBTQ spectrum. People who’ve battled homelessness and life-changing illnesses.
They’re all participating as “open books”. Which means that when you “borrow” a book, you can ask them anything. All the burning questions you’ve ever wanted to ask someone about their orientation, what it’s like to escape a war-torn region as a refugee or how it feels to sleep on the street. No holds barred.
It’s an incredible opportunity and, for me, it was a real eye-opener. Due to meet a friend, I had limited time and expected to leave the event after just an hour. Instead, I found myself chatting to the incredibly warm and engaging Katy Jon Went, a non-binary transgender former theologian. Needless to say, I was half an hour late to meet my friend. I’ll admit: we both went full geek on the subject. It was a rare privilege to speak to someone so knowledgeable about the spectrum of belief in relation to gender identity – tough topics to tackle in a brief conversation with a perfect stranger! And yet that’s the point of The Human Library: to encourage engagement with someone you might never meet or converse with in your own social circle or place of work or study.
To promote the campaign, Heineken has also created a film called Worlds Apart, which follows a real-life social experiment. In the film, several pairs of strangers with completing clashing viewpoints on everything from gender roles to climate change are challenged to work together on various tasks before their differences on these hard-hitting subjects are revealed. They are then given the opportunity to leave or discuss their differences over a beer. Well, guess what they choose to do? Watch the remarkable outcome below:
As part of the on-going partnership, Heineken and The Human Library will be hosting a series of events across the UK where you can borrow the ‘books’ and ‘read’ their stories, including a pop-up library at this year’s Wilderness Festival. There will also be Facebook Chatbot that connects people from different backgrounds and creates personalised films demonstrating what they have in common. The results may surprise you.
It’s safe to say that we absolutely love this campaign. The world needs more safe spaces like these, where we can embrace diversity while fostering a spirit of unity. And what better way to do it than over a nice cold beer?
