Barcelona players Neymar and Dani Alves, "together with a team of Neymar's advisers, found a creative way to respond" to a Villarreal fan who threw a banana at Alves on Sunday, according to Fernando Kallás of AS. The wave of "anti-racism protests that have inundated the Internet" since Sunday is a "marketing campaign that had been prepared for weeks." After Barcelona's game against Espanyol in March, "when Neymar was a victim of fans making monkey noises," he met with his father and his advisers to "discuss how to respond to acts of intolerance in a convincing manner." This was when "the idea to eat the next banana thrown from the stands came about." Advertising agency Loducca partner Guga Ketzer said, "An action is worth more than a thousand words. An action does not need translation and this is what we are seeing in the responses all around the world. The idea was for Neymar to eat the banana but it was Alves and this also worked." Ketzer added, "The best way to end prejudice is to remove its strength so that the racist act is not repeated, this was when we created the hashtag #somostodosmacacos, where the act of eating a banana transformed into a movement." Immediately following the incident, "Neymar's team of advisers posted a photo of him and his son on social media and the response was immediate." By Monday, the clothing brand of TV Globo presenter Luciano Huck, "a close friend of Neymar's," was selling shirts featuring the hashtag #somostodosmacacos ("we are all monkeys") and an image of a banana for €25 ($35) (AS, 4/29). In London, Charlotte Lytton wrote the exploit "has angered many social media users who were unaware that they were contributing to a ‘sponsored campaign’ orchestrated beforehand." One person said the news “takes the shine off” the good work it had done (LONDON TIMES, 5/1).
POLICE ARREST SUSPECT: The EFE reported Spanish police arrested 26-year-old David Campayo Lleo, who allegedly "threw the banana at Alves" (EFE, 4/30). REUTERS' Iain Rogers reported a police spokesperson said that Lleo was "taken into custody on Tuesday evening before being charged and released and would be appearing before a judge at a yet-to-be-determined date." The man was charged with a "breach of fundamental rights and civil liberties" (REUTERS, 4/30).
