RE/SIGN

In a first of its kind, today Signature (the UK’s leading awarding body for British Sign Language and a major charity for deaf communication and language qualifications) launches RE/SIGN - a Tiktok campaign aimed at challenging fake sign language, in partnership with Recipe and The Sweetshop.

Increasingly, TikTok is being used for educational purposes; in fact 63% of Gen Z state they have used the platform to learn something new. So naturally, it has become the go-to platform for learning British Sign Language - the official language used by deaf people in the UK.

With over half a billion views across #deaftok, TikTok is a thriving and inclusive community for young deaf people. However authentic content is being crowded out by people teaching ‘Fake Sign’ - Sign language that is inaccurate and misrepresents the deaf community. In fact, a staggering 89% of people fluent in sign language have experienced fake sign.

The danger is that this content is spreading faster than accurate BSL. And the more it trends the more it's shared, compounding the problem.

RE/SIGN is a social first idea created by full-service independent agency Recipe. It attempts to redress the balance of authentic BSL on TikTok, by out-trending Fake sign using the language of young people - dance.

The objective of this campaign is to spread awareness of the problem and get young people interested in learning BSL, to learn from authentic voices like deaf creators or qualified teachers at Signature.

The lyrics to three trending music tracks (‘Hotter Now’ by Lu Kala, ‘This Is Me’ by Kullah featuring Jessy Covets and ‘Get A Load of Me’ by Kyla Krush) were translated into BSL by BSL Consultant Cherie Gordon. They were then turned into dance challenges choreographed by deaf performers Raffie Julien, Chris Fonseca and Sarah Adedeji. The films were directed by deaf filmmaker, Sam Arnold.

Along with the dances, three tutorials show viewers a step-by-step breakdown of the BSL incorporated into the dance.

Created by Recipe and produced by The Sweetshop, this campaign was brought to life by a predominantly deaf team and the outcome is an authentic voice from the UK's deaf community to the hearing community.

The pro-active initiative was sparked when Recipe creative, Youmna Hazzaa, witnessed a deaf person in A&E trying to communicate through sign language to a doctor and not getting anywhere. Seeing first-hand the frustration and experiencing the helplessness made her realise how critical it is for people to have some knowledge of BSL. However, when looking on TikTok to learn, she discovered a proliferation of incorrect sign videos, which inspired the idea of RE/SIGN.