Last weekend, huge flower hearts were shown in more than forty cities around the world. The worldwide flower sector joined forces to support all victims of the war in Ukraine.
The initiative is a collaboration between various parties in the horticultural sector that joined forces with the supplier of heart constructions Blachère Illumination,’ according to a ‘Question and Answer’ of the #LoveNotWar campaign. On Saturday and Sunday, videos and photos of huge flower hearts appeared on social media.
#LoveNotWar took place on several continents in more than 40 cities in 22 countries. Large hearts were decorated with flowers. In Tokyo, Paris, Toronto, Quito, Miami, Bratislava, Zurich, Roskilde, San Marino, Brussels, Reykjavik, Arnhem and London. Flower Council of Holland and 2Dezign coordinated the campaign, which was carried out by exporters and local florists.
No commercial purpose
“The idea originated with Blachère Illumination, which has a broad city marketing network,” says Marco van der Sar, chairman of the Flower Council of Holland. “The symbol of the heart with #LoveNotWar is not a solution to the conflict, but it is a nice statement from the sector. Together with growers, exporters and florists, something very beautiful was created in a very short time. The aim of the campaign was to reach as many people as possible with our message and to show compassion for all those affected.”
The promotion had no commercial purpose, assures Matthijs Mesken, director of VGB. Many exporters were involved in #LoveNotWar. “It was not a call to buy more flowers and plants. It was an action by everyone and nobody. We have consciously done that. We wanted to prevent it from turning into a sales story.”
Local florists made the arrangements. Although the cause is the war in Ukraine, initiators of #LoveNotWar did not specifically target the Ukrainian victims, but all victims of this war. That is why the colors blue and yellow were not chosen. Initiators advised the florists to use the colors red, pink, peach, white and green.
