The Asian American Foundation has teamed up with creative agency Droga5 to produce a series of ten vintage posters titled ‘I’m Really From’, all of which depict the vibrancy of Asian American communities in various US cities. It’s part of the community program ‘Hope Against Hate’ which aims to tackle anti-Asian hate – timely, considering it’s up 73% between 2019 and 2020 according to an FBI study. Psychologists have attributed this rise to the frequent stereotyping of Asian Americans as perpetual foreigners, which has made them particular targets during the pandemic because the virus was first detected in China – something this campaign directly speaks to.

With 75% of Asian Americans feeling worried about some sort of discrimination, harassment, or violence because of COVID-19, the campaign uses a sense of nostalgia and timelessness to tackle the alienating nature of these stereotypes. While 54% of Americans think that brands should publicly speak out against racism, only 32% think the US has made progress between 2020 and 2021. The introduction of an Asian American character on Sesame Street is a great example of a brand making progress on advancing racial equity and creating feelings of familiarity and belonging as a way to debunk pre-existing prejudices. This can also be seen in the 2021 Christmas campaign from the Norwegian postal service, Posten, which was widely praised for featuring Santa Claus in a same-sex relationship.