New MTA marketing push to combat anti-Asian hate crimes

March 17, 2021
The authority has updated public messaging campaigns to focus on anti-Asian bias incidents.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) updated its anti-hate public messaging campaign with ads designed to help combat anti-Asian hate crimes as a response to a recent increase in attacks targeted against Asians in New York City.  

"The increase in anti-Asian hate crimes is absolutely reprehensible," said New York City Transit Interim President Sarah Feinberg. "We are committed to working closely with our law enforcement partners and doing everything in our power to reduce these disgusting attacks on our transit system. All New Yorkers deserve to feel safe when using the system and our new campaign will make that crystal clear. Enough is enough. We have no tolerance for intolerant acts of hate." 

MTA Chief Customer Officer Sarah Meyer added, “These messages will appear on the digital screen network across thousands of screens on subways and buses, to remind us to look out for Asian New Yorkers, our friends, our neighbors, our coworkers and our familiesWe are proud to do a small part to fight back against the recent uptick in hate crimes.”  

In partnership with the New York Police Department (NYPD), the MTA has created anti-hate public service advertisements in Chinese, Korean and English that warn against targeting Asian New Yorkers and advise those with tips about possible hate crimes to contact the NYPD Asian Hate Crimes Task Force at [email protected] by tweeting to @NYPDAsianHCTF. The ads will appear in stations throughout the system, with particular emphasis on neighborhoods with high concentrations of Asian and Asian American transit users. The Task Force can communicate in multiple languages. For real time emergencies, customers should contact an MTA employee or dial 911.  

The materials will appear as part of the MTA’s 'Hate Has No Place’ public messaging campaign first launched in January 2020. Headlines of that campaign include “Kindness,” “Respect” and “Solidarity.”