Trolling the Home Office on their "illegal immigrants Go Home" number: http://t.co/n7k6pGXiDH pic.twitter.com/XK5bDHwTAh
— HashashinTag (@HashashinTag) July 29, 2013
The controversial signage vans telling illegal immigrants to “go home” or face arrest have not been successful and will not receive a wider roll-out by the Home Office.
The vans were being trialled in London and were an attempt by the government to use not-so-subtle “nudge” psychology to push illegal immigrants in the capital to leave the country. However, the Daily Mail is reporting that Home Secretary Theresa May is to axe the campaign after the vans only convinced one person to leave the country.
They met controversy early on, with people complaining that they were offensive, and the Advertising Standards Authority banning the ads for the arrest numbers printed on the signs being misleading.
The criticisms came from all across the political spectrum, with Vince Cable calling the campaigns “stupid” and UKIP leader Nigel Farage calling the vans “disturbing”.
The #RacistVan hashtag also took off on Twitter, with a number of people taking the opportunity to use the van to highlight other causes and the similarities with a similar campaign in 1930s Germany
Disturbing the number of people who have defended these horrible #RacistVan. 1 is coming to a village near you soon pic.twitter.com/Io11AzcFDo
— Eoin Clarke (@DrEoinCl) July 29, 2013
I was hoping for #racistvan mockups, not disappointed! pic.twitter.com/DFKfVcJUtZ”
— Isabel Livingstone (@mslisk) July 28, 2013
Sorry, I couldn’t resist. #RacistVan pic.twitter.com/l3JcGnubI2
— Jared Earle (@jearle) July 29, 2013
Human rights group Liberty even made their van a reality:
Huge thanks to @libertyhq today for fighting back against #racistvan in London! pic.twitter.com/TZkcmf2I5d
— Rosie Scammell (@rosiescammell) August 6, 2013
