Raça Magazine Celebrates 25th Anniversary with Afrofuturist Campaign

Coined in 1994 and explored in the late 1990s by American sociologist Alondra Nelson, Afrofuturism is a cultural, aesthetic, and political movement that manifests itself in literature, cinema, photography, fashion, art, and music, from a black perspective.

The concept promotes the protagonism of black people by celebrating their identity, ancestrality, and history, and by depicting a great future that is characterized both by advanced technology and by overcoming and re-signifying the conditions established by racial oppression, all within the context of African diaspora.

Raça Magazine, the first and most acclaimed publication in Brazil to exclusively offer content related to afro culture, is celebrating its 25th anniversary with the campaign 'The future is Black (O Futuro é Preto)'. The creative work is inspired by the magazine's own history, as it has always promoted conversations and debates that only now, after two and a half decades of struggle, are beginning to gain space in the media and industry.

Each piece of symbolism and colour choice in the campaign is full of meaning. The red, green and black come from the Pan-African flag, a symbol of the movement to unite every country in the American continent in the fight against racism.

It is also worth noting in the campaign the strong presence of Ananse Ntontan, a symbol that portrays the wisdom, creativity, and complexities of life, and of Sankofa, a bird that keeps its feet firmly on the ground and turns its head backwards, showing that it can move forward without forgetting the past.

Mauricio Pestana, the magazine's CEO, comments: "The future is where Raça Magazine has always been. Our articles and content have always looked to the future. Since 1996 we have worked to give visibility to the black community in Brazil, broaching topics and starting conversations that, unfortunately, would not be seen in other media outlets. This campaign retrieves the past, creates the present, and projects a future that is more fair and inspiring for everyone: a black future."

Pestana reminds us that other initiatives are also celebrating the magazine's anniversary. "We have started Black Models, a modeling agency that specializes in black models, and DATARAÇA, a research institute that will bridge the market, the corporate world, and the black community. We also launched Raça Play, a virtual space that showcases audiovisual productions by black people," he adds.

FCB Brasil ECD, Marcelo Rizério, explains that the images strike a conversation with each publication's content. "The art is all inspired on the main topic of the magazine's editions, and their covers. The most recent, for instance, is about the new era of black executives, and its cover features Samantha Almeida and Maurício Rodrigues. With our ad, we want to stress that both the leadership and the future are black," he reveals.

The campaign was released in September 2021, and will be live until next September. In addition to the ads, the campaign includes a series of posters, published in the monthly editions of the magazine, addressing the cover stories of each issue, as well as assets to be used in the magazine's social networks and on OOH activations throughout the city of São Paulo.