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Free Hugs Campaign

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Free Hugs in Sydney, August 2004

The Free Hugs Campaign is a social movement involving individuals who offer hugs to strangers in public places.[1] 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. The hugs are meant to be random acts of kindness - purportedly selfless acts performed by a person for the sole reason of making others feel better.

History

A woman holding up a Spanish-language Free Hugs sign in Buenos Aires

The Free Hugs campaign in its present form was started by Juan Mann on June 30, 2004, when he commenced giving out hugs in the Pitt St 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." [3]

Mann carried the now iconic "FREE HUGS" sign from the outset. However on his first attempt he waited fifteen minutes before someone accepted his offer, reportedly an elderly lady.

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 the 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 St 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'." [5] The video was later uploaded onto YouTube where it became one of the most popular videos on that site.

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.

Official free hugs website

A website that is generally recognized as the official site 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, 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 will be on July 4, 2009.

As of 14 September 2008, the website appears to have been taken down by a malicious attack. [1]

Publicity and expansion

  • A college student, Yu Tzu-wei, began a campaign in Taipei in October 2006 to "hug everyone in Taiwan".[8]
  • in 2006, a Free Hugs Campaign began in Tel Aviv, Israel.[9]
  • 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 twenty-four 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]
  • A Free Hugs event on November 10, 2006 in Boulder, Colorado was covered by local media.[13]
  • In Belgium the Free Hugs campaign appeared near the end of 2006, with Free Hugs events on December 22 and December 23 in Antwerp and on December 30 in Ghent.[14][15]
  • On November 18, 2006 Geneva Online, an online community, organized the first Free Hugs event in Geneva, Switzerland.[16]
  • On December 24, 2006, two Korean boy students in Singapore were featured in the local national newspaper, The Straits Times, for their 'free hugs' campaign started on November 22, outside Ngee Ann City shopping mall along Orchard Road. In a novel bid to spread the festive cheer, they had this campaign for the following consecutive Saturdays.[17]
  • A group of undergraduates who met on the PTT BBS started a Free Hugs movement in the Kaohsiung, Taiwan Urban Spotlight Arcade on January 28 2007.[18]
  • 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.[19]
  • On April 14, 2007, Portuguese waitress Sara Viera living in Newcastle Upon-Tyne, England was reported on both BBC News and local press to be giving Free Hugs in the streets of Newcastle City Centre.
  • On July 29, 2007, 2 men (Abdulla Jafari and Sagger Khraishi) started a Free Hugs campaign in Amman, Jordan. Both of them were arrested that night. They have been accused of harassing females by giving them hugs and violating the law by having an unauthorized carton sign that says "Free Hugs". Since then, the free hugs campaign have been banned in Jordan.[citation needed]
  • On September 10, 2007, a Free Hug Day event was created on Facebook. There were over 800,000 confirmed guests.[citation needed]
  • On August 31, 2008 Free Hug event in Istanbul (Couchsurfing guests and hosts participated)
  • On September 10, 2008, a second Free Hug Day event was created on Facebook. There were over 155,000 confirmed guests.[20]
  • On September 25, 2008 a large Free Hugs Campaign spread across the 12th biennial Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival in New Jersey. Reportedly, thousands of hugs were exchanged in that single day.

See also

References

  1. ^ Ellen Connolly Hugs and smiles, but not everyone embraces the trend Sydney Morning Herald, November 6, 2004
  2. ^ WHO Magazine Interview Spreading the Love: Juan Mann January 30, 2007
  3. ^ WHO Magazine Interview Spreading the Love: Juan Mann January 30, 2007
  4. ^ Who Magazine Spreading the Love: Shimon Moore (Sick Puppies) January 30, 2007
  5. ^ Who Magazine Spreading the Love: Shimon Moore (Sick Puppies) January 30, 2007
  6. ^ Oprah.comJuan Mann on Oprah
  7. ^ Andrew Ramadge, Free Hugs star a 'security risk' NEWS.com.au
  8. ^ Free Hugs campaign arrives in Taiwan, Independent Online (South Africa), October 7, 2006
  9. ^ Free Hugs campaign of Tel Aviv
  10. ^ News on Corriere della Sera
  11. ^ Pre-game coverage for Game 5 of the 2006 World Series
  12. ^ Huggers end up in police custody
  13. ^ Shaun Boyd.'Free Hugs' Movement Spreads To Boulder, CBS4 News (Denver, Colorado)
  14. ^ Gratis knuffels op de Meir (in Dutch)
  15. ^ Goedaardig virus verovert de wereld (in Dutch)
  16. ^ A little tenderness in a world of roughness... (in French)
  17. ^ The Straits Times, "The Sunday Times Lifestyle", L5. December 24, 2006. "Care for a hug?" by Eunice Quek.
  18. ^ Kaohsiung Liberty Times
  19. ^ Free hugs for France, news.com.au, March 12, 2007
  20. ^ FREE HUG DAY! (Login required)
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Other countries

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