In 2015 we launched the "Donald Eres Un Pendejo" campaign to unify a community and create something positive from what has been such a vile piece of history to watch. The Love Your Neighbor campaign is the next phase of this project.
We believe that at the door of your business your values should be exemplified and defended.
Ilegal Mezcal — the company — was founded in Guatemala. Ilegal Mezcal — the liquor — is made in Oaxaca, Mexico by Oaxaqueños. The company is comprised of Mexicans, Guatemalans, Mexican Americans, an El Salvadoran American, a Venezuelan, an Ecuadorian, New Yorkers, Californians, an Alabamian, a Philadelphian … people from an array of other ethnicities, cultures, and sexual orientations. We live, work, and play across borders.
We are too keenly aware of the issues of immigration, the refugee crisis, gender discrimination, racism and xenophobia. These issues impact us, our friends, and our relatives. Our goal is to give a voice to these issues and unify communities through awareness campaigns and fundraising efforts.
Demonizing groups of people will not solve any of this. Nor will building walls, whether brick by brick or sound bite by sound bite. Violence is certainly not the answer. Finding commonality, exercising compassion, sharing an other's custom, fighting for human dignity, engaging in civil discourse — these are good first steps.
Since the company began we have supported and contributed to a number of groups working to affect social change for the better. Through out of home advertising, digital strategy and cocktail partnerships with bars across the United States, we will raise awareness for these critical issues. Ilegal will be donating all the profits from our merchandise line, a one dollar for every Love Your Neighbor cocktail sold during the time period of October 2018 through February 2019 to Esperanza Immigrant Rights Project and The National Center For Transgender Rights.
The Love Your Neighbor project hit the streets with 3,000 wild postings, 26 billboard size trucks, 10 billboard sized projections. Only four months into the campaign the Love Your Neighbor cocktail has been featured at 40 bar and restaurant menus across the country, with thousands of cocktails sold, 500 shirts and over $7,000 raised for charity. We plan to continue the project and raising money through the end of the year.
