At the beginning of April, Florida passed what is being called the Don’t Say Gay legislation, which bans instruction on topics related to sexual orientation or gender identity for students in kindergarten through third grade. Ohio lawmakers have introduced a similar bill. The implications are unpleasant at best.

New York City Mayor, Eric Adams, and WPP have responded with a campaign of support for the LGBTQ+ community. The OOH campaign, developed by VMLY&R, BCW, H&K Strategies and Group M, lets struggling Floridians know they can find an inclusive home in NYC – not with anger, but with New York humour:

All of the donated ad space was secured by Kinetic, a GroupM company. The billboards will remain high-traffic locations in Fort Lauderdale, Jacksonville, Orlando, Tampa and West Palm, Florida, until May 29. They are expected to gain five million impressions.

“I am the mayor of New York City, but I have a message for Florida’s LGBTQ+ community—come to a city where you can say and be whoever you want,” stated Mayor Adams. “Florida’s Don’t Say Gay bill is the latest shameful, extremist culture war targeting the LGBTQ+ community. Today, we say to the families living in fear of this state-sponsored discrimination that you will always have a home in New York City.”

“This was a proactive, tactical idea based on what we were seeing happening at the legislative level in multiple states including Florida,” commented Brian Ellner, US Public Affairs at WPP, and Graham Smith, managing director, strategy and insights, and global chair of the LGBTQ Employee Resource Group at VMLY&R.