Free Hugs Campaign
The Free Hugs Campaign is a social movement involving individuals who offer hugs to strangers in public places.[1] The hugs are meant to be random acts of kindness - selfless acts performed just to make others feel better. International Free Hugs Month is celebrated on the first Saturday of July and continues until August first.
The campaign in its present form was started in 2004 by an Australian man known only by the pseudonym "Juan Mann".[2] The campaign became famous internationally in 2006 as the result of a music video on YouTube by the Australian band Sick Puppies, which has been viewed over 71,000,000 times, making it the second most viewed video on YouTube.
History
The Free Hugs campaign in its present form was started by Juan Mann on December 1 ,2004 when he began giving out hugs in the Pitt Street Mall in central Sydney. In the months prior to this, Mann had been feeling depressed and lonely as a result of numerous personal difficulties. However, a random hug from a stranger made an enormous difference, with Mann stating that "...I went out to a party one night and a completely random person came up to me and gave me a hug. I felt like a king! It was greatest thing that ever happened."[2]
Mann carried the now iconic "FREE HUGS" sign from the outset. However on his first attempt in his hometown, where he returned to find that he was the only person he knew, as his friends and family had moved away, he had to wait fifteen minutes before an elderly lady came up to him and gave him a hug.[3]
Initial distrust of Juan Mann's motives eventually gave way to a gradual increase of people willing to be hugged, with other huggers (male and female) helping distribute them. In October 2004 police told them they must stop, as Mann had not obtained public liability insurance worth $25 million for his actions. Mann and his companions used a petition to attempt to convince authorities that his campaign should be allowed to continue without the insurance. His petition reached 10,000 signatures. He submitted it and was allowed to continue giving free hugs.[4]
Mann befriended Shimon Moore, lead singer for Sick Puppies, shortly after commencing his campaign, and over a two-month period in late 2004 Moore recorded video footage of Mann and his fellow huggers. Moore and his band moved to Los Angeles in March 2005 and nothing was immediately done with the footage. Meanwhile Mann continued his campaign throughout 2005 and 2006 by appearing in Pitt Street Mall in Sydney most Thursday afternoons.
In mid 2006 Mann's grandmother died, and in consolation Moore made the music video using the footage he had shot in 2004 to send to Mann as a gift, stating in an interview that, "I sent it to him on a disc as a present and I wrote down 'This is who you are'."[4] The video was later uploaded onto YouTube where it is now one of the most viewed videos on the site, with over 70 million views as of September 2011.[5]
On October 30, 2006, Mann was invited by Oprah Winfrey to appear on her show Oprah after her producer's doctor saw the Free Hugs video on YouTube. Juan Mann made an appearance outside her studio that morning, offering free hugs to the crowd waiting to see the taping of that day's episode. Oprah's camera crews caught several people in the audience hugging Mann as the morning progressed.[6]
On October 23, 2007, Juan Mann announced his residential address online and offered an open invitation to anyone to come over and chat on-camera as part of his 'open-house project'. Mann hosted 80 guests over 36 days. On November 25, 2007, Mann's landlord threatened him with eviction, so he launched an online appeal.[7]
On December 25, 2007, Juan Mann made his e-book "The Illustrated Guide to Free Hugs" available as a free download. On November 22, 2008, at YouTube Live Sick Puppies did a performance of "All the Same" while Juan Mann gave hugs to crowd members. On February 13, 2009 a Free Hug Day took place.
On August 23, 2009, "Juan Mann" announced via his Facebook page linking to an article on his blog that he is "retiring" from Free Hugs, and has invited any interested party to take over the role – though he stresses that he does not own any rights relating to the Free Hugs concept, nor any income, and that there is nothing stopping anyone from undertaking the activity at any time, any place in the world. The successful applicant will take over the responsibilities of maintaining the Free Hugs website and forum, as well as any other "official" Free Hugs presence Juan presently maintains online.
Official website
A website that is generally recognized as the official site of the free hugs campaign, The Official Home of the Free Hugs Campaign, was launched in mid 2007. This site enables those involved in the campaign to better organize themselves and coordinate their efforts. Many initiatives resulted from these efforts. For example, on the websites forum (hosted on Dragon Arts), those involved in the campaign called for an annual International Free Hugs Day. Juan Mann declared that the day would fall on the first Saturday following June 30 each year; this being the first date that Juan ever offered free hugs in Pitt Street Mall, Sydney in 2004. The first International Free Hugs Day was July 7, 2007, the second on July 5, 2008 and the third was on July 4, 2009 (but see above re Valentine's Day).
Juan Mann's Official Blog remained dormant after his apparent retirement but has recently been updated, proclaiming itself as the "true home" of the Free Hugs Campaign and regularly updated with interviews conducted with individuals holding Free Hugs Campaigns internationally.
Publicity and expansion
- In October 2006, a college student, Yu Tzu-wei, began a campaign in Taipei to "hug everyone in Taiwan"[8]
- In October 2006, a Free Hugs Campaign began in Tel Aviv, Israel.[9]
- On October 11, 2006, a group of four students began the movement in Barcelona, Spain
- In late October 2006, several Free Hugs Campaigns were organized in a number of cities in Italy.[10]
- On October 27, 2006, students Steve Loftus, Mark Wonnacott and Jeff Jones from Illinois-based McKendree University were featured in news media, including MLB.com, for giving free hugs before game five of the World Series in front of Busch Stadium.[11]
- On November 6, 2006, a group of eleven people led by a 24-year-old man named 'Baigu' (白骨) tried the same campaign in Shanghai, only to be detained for one hour for not having a permit to hold a gathering in a public place.[12]
- On November 10, 2006, A Free Hugs event in Boulder, Colorado was covered by local media.[13]
- On November 18, 2006 Geneva Online, an online community, organized the first Free Hugs event in Geneva, Switzerland.[14]
- On November 22, two Korean boy students organized a Free Hugs Campaign outside the Ngee Ann City shopping mall along Orchard Road, Singapore. In a novel bid to spread the festive cheer, they had this campaign for the following consecutive Saturdays.[15]
- In late 2006 a Free Hugs Campaign commenced in Belgium with events on December 22 and December 23 in Antwerp and on December 30 in Ghent.[16][17]
- In March 2007, as part of an initiative to combat discrimination against people infected with AIDS or HIV, the French Government will call on its citizens to embrace strangers who hoist signs in the street offering free hugs.[18]
- On April 14, 2007, Portuguese waitress Sara Viera living in Newcastle Upon-Tyne, England was reported on both BBC News and local press[19] to be giving Free Hugs in the streets of Newcastle City Centre.
- In September 2008, Hector Salas with the help of Brad Pass filmed their own Free Hugs Campaign in the villages of Kampala, Uganda. Both were active duty U.S. Marine Embassy Guards during the filming of the video.[20]
- On December 20, 2008, Indian composer A. R. Rahman and percussionist Sivamani created a song titled "Jiya Se Jiya", inspired by the Free Hugs Campaign and promoted it through a video shot in various cities in India.[21]
- In February 2009, a free hug offer startled downtown Toronto shoppers.[22]
- In July 2009, a Jordanian radio station celebrated International Free Hugs Day by creating the first Free Hugs video from an Arab country.[23]
- In August 2009, in Norway Free Hugs were offered by the Red Cross Youth in the yearly market "Steinkjermartnan".[24]
- On December 13, 2009, a small group of Calgarians (in Western Canada) braved intense cold to be on the streets to hug people who were walking to events in downtown Calgary. The initiators of the Hugs Day, Best U Can B Inc, also turned the hugs day campaign into a fundraising effort for a local charity called Servants Anonymous Society of Calgary www.servantsanon.com by selling t-shirts printed with the free hugs message, provided by freehugs4us.org. Photos and complete story at www.freehugs.bestucanb.ca. The hugs were very well received and the group made national television news and the local newspapers. A similar event will take place on July 3, 2010 in Calgary.
- On July 3, 2010, "Agkalies gia olous" (translation = "hugs for everyone"), a group of friends from Athens, Greece, organized a Free Hugs Campaign in Syntagma square, and held their positions despite the intense rainfall of that day.[25]
- On July 3, 2010, The first "FREE HUGS Campaign for AIDS" was organized by a group of friends from a non-profit organization called "SHADOW of BODHI", at SIX different places at Chennai, India.[26]
- On July 3, 2010, the members of Blackberry Circle took part in Free Hugs Day in Old Town Spring, near Houston, Texas.[27]
- On July 31, 2010, The first "FREE HUGS Campaign in Atlanta, Georgia" was organized by New Covenant Church of Atlanta, at Piedmont Park in Midtown Atlanta.[28]
- Micheal Castaldo recorded an Italian version of Hallelujah on his 2010 Vital Records album, Aceto. A video of the song was filmed in Toronto, Canada in December 2010 by filmmaker Greg Riccio Jr. supporting the FREE HuGGs Campaign[29].
- On December 25, 2010, a group of Chinese and Canadian friends, gave FREE HUGS at various locations around Beijing China.[30]
- On December 24, 2011(Christmas Eve), a small group of friends from Hong Kong, gave out free hugs in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong.[31].
References
- ^ Ellen Connolly Hugs and smiles, but not everyone embraces the trend Sydney Morning Herald, December 1 , 2004
- ^ a b WHO Magazine Interview Spreading the Love: Juan Mann December 1, 2004
- ^ The Gift of Giving Back Oprah Winfrey Show.
- ^ a b Who Magazine Spreading the Love: Shimon Moore (Sick Puppies) January 30, 2007
- ^ Most Viewed Videos on YouTube
- ^ Oprah.com Juan Mann on Oprah
- ^ Andrew Ramadge, Free Hugs star a 'security risk' NEWS.com.au
- ^ Free Hugs campaign arrives in Taiwan, Independent Online (South Africa), October 7, 2006
- ^ Free Hugs campaign of Tel Aviv
- ^ News on Corriere della Sera
- ^ Pre-game coverage for Game 5 of the 2006 World Series
- ^ Huggers end up in police custody
- ^ Shaun Boyd.'Free Hugs' Movement Spreads To Boulder, CBS4 News (Denver, Colorado)
- ^ A little tenderness in a world of roughness... (in French)
- ^ The Straits Times, "The Sunday Times Lifestyle", L5. December 24, 2006. "Care for a hug?" by Eunice Quek.
- ^ Gratis knuffels op de Meir (in Dutch)
- ^ Goedaardig virus verovert de wereld (in Dutch)
- ^ Free hugs for France, news.com.au, March 12, 2007
- ^ icnewcastle.icnetwork.co.uk
- ^ Free Hugs Kampala, Uganda
- ^ "Rahman advocates free hugs for peace". Daily News and Analysis. 15 December 2008. http://www.dnaindia.com/entertainment/report_rahman-advocates-free-hugs-for-peace_1214284. Retrieved 28 April 2011.
- ^ Toronto Star
- ^ YouTube - Free Hugs Jordan
- ^ Gratis martnasklem - NRK Trøndelag - NRK Nyheter
- ^ Agkalies gia olous
- ^ "Say it with a hug". The Hindu (Chennai, India). July 13, 2010. http://www.hindu.com/yw/2010/07/13/stories/2010071350481400.htm.
- ^ Blackberry Circle website
- ^ NEW COVENANT CHURCH OF ATLANTA website
- ^ www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7UK4PIfZV0
- ^ FREE HUGS in Beijing on Christmas <3
- ^ A video about this FREE HUGS that held in Hong Kong ]
External links