Spanish paper AS reports today that Dani Alves' eating of a banana which was thrown at him from the stands during Barca's 3-2 win against Villarreal on Sunday night was not the spontaneous action which we all thought.
Alves and his Brazilian teammate Neymar had been planning the response since the striker got sick of receiving racist abuse after a game against Espanyol on March 29th. Neymar along with a team of advisors which included his father came up with the idea.
The initial plan was for Neymar to eat a banana the next time one was thrown at him but it was Alves who was presented with the opportunity.
Several players have posted images of themselves eating a banana with #weareallmonkeys or #somostodosmacacos in Portuguese.
Guga Ketzer who works for the Brazilian advertising agency which was behind a marketing campaign for the movement in Brazil said:
Actions speak louder than words. A gesture needs no translation and what we're seeing is that this has gone viral, globally. The concept was for Neymar to eat the banana, but in the end it was Alves, and that works just the same.
The best way to beat prejudice is to take the sting out of the action so it is not racist repeated. We created #weareallmonkeys #somostodosmacacos, with the gesture of eating a banana, and it has been turned into a movement.
Alves eating the banana being planned does not take away from the brilliance of the response.
[AS.com]
