A saucy new video by the Canadian Federation of Jewish Students (CFJS) aims to show that everyone in Israel has full rights regardless of their sexual orientation.
The minute-long video entitled Israel: Small Country, Big Pride is part of CFJS’ Size Doesn’t Matter marketing campaign. The new video was posted on its website, SizeDoesntMatter.ca, on Feb. 9 and has since picked up some viral momentum. It’s received roughly 4,600 hits on YouTube.
It features four young, stylish guests seated at a dinner table engaged in a bit of same-sex footsie. The campaign is aimed at students and young professionals.
“We basically wanted to show Israel beyond the conflict and show all the great things Israel has contributed to the world in terms of progressive human rights, like LGBTQ [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning] rights, women’s rights, and also that it’s an exciting tourist destination with beautiful people,” said Paige MacPherson, vice-president external of CFJS.
“We’re trying to promote the fact that there is a full range of rights for the LGBTQ community in Israel,” said MacPherson. “Generally the feedback we’ve gotten from students and members of the community and through YouTube, social media and the Size Doesn’t Matter website has all been very positive.”
The broader Size Doesn’t Matter campaign is focused on promoting the shared values between Canada and Israel and runs complementary to CFJS’ advocacy efforts, said MacPherson.
Last year, CFJS posted two other videos as part of the campaign. Israel: Small Country, Big Paradise launched in February and shows the country as an exciting tourist destination. It stirred up some controversy as it features a young couple sitting on a bed talking about size and motioning towards the shirtless young male’s lap, which is obscured as his girlfriend says, “It’s small.” “Small?” the guy asks incredulously. Turns out the couple is looking at a map of Israel and debating whether to visit the country. It’s received more than one million hits on YouTube.
The second, decidedly tamer, video launched last April and is called Israel: Small Country, Big Ideas. It features two young adults in a coffee shop as one plans his trip to Israel. They have a flirty exchange about some of Israel’s medical and human rights advancements.
“The intention is to market Israel in an edgy way and, admittedly, we have pushed some boundaries, but overall this marketing campaign has been extremely effective in terms of feedback,” said MacPherson.
All of the creative work for Size Doesn’t Matter is done in-house at CFJS, a board of Jewish students who are currently attending university or college.
