Egyptian With a Sign Sends a Message

By: Dana Farouk 

@danahfarouk

Egyptian With Sign is an Instagram and Facebook account by an Egyptian man who uses small billboard signs to approach his audience and raise awareness about different issues in the community, including the recent Coronavirus pandemic. 

Sherif, the man behind @egyptianwithsign who chose to only go by his first name to maintain the anonymity of the account, said he was inspired by an American account called @dudewithsign which also raises social awareness.

Sherif says he initially created his account solely for entertainment and the signs used were mostly about humorous aspects that Egyptians experience in their daily lives. 

He says he focuses on light-hearted issues from Egyptians constantly being late to more serious issues such as racism against Asians as a result of the COVID-19 Coronavirus.

“The sign is what is important, not me. I am the voice of the people, not the voice of just one person,” he said. 

Sherif decided to reach out to a number of celebrities and use their familiar faces and status to spread important messages using signs about the current state of the virus and to advise people to stay safe in their everyday lives. 

His photos included Egyptian celebrities like singer-songwriter Lara Scandar, actor Tamer Hagras and actress Tara Emad.

Sherif explained that with current events, he has been trying to shift his focus to more educational signs that raise awareness on issues such as the ongoing pandemic.

“I wanted to remind everyone that we are in fact all in this together. Rich or poor, educated or not. We must act together in the case of COVID-19,” he said. 

Egyptian social media content creator Sherine Arafa took part in the campaign and held a sign that said ‘we are not on holiday’.

She said that the campaign has definitely been effective because it raises awareness of what society can do to stop the virus from spreading and that people need to be reminded to stay at home.

“The problem with this virus is that it has a rapid rate of spreading and frankly we don’t have enough resources to support us if we reach the state of Italy [where thousands have died] for example. That’s why we need to raise awareness of staying home,” Arafa told The Caravan.

Considering the power that celebrities have today with their presence on social media, using their faces allowed Sherif to reach a wider audience who would spread the message even further to their friends, families, and social networks. 

Arafa explained that the quarantine period is likely to spark creativity in different content creators and that she was excited to see what projects people were able to come up with to help the problem. 

“Everyone who has a platform, big or small, is trying to be of help in this crisis by creating content that raises awareness, entertains, or educates,” says TV and Mega Fm Radio host Sherif Noureldin.

Noureldin adds that he “loves” how the influencers and celebrities are realising the responsibility of doing their part in such times.

“He’s [Sherif] doing it brilliantly, he’s successfully using his platform to positively influence people,” Noureldin said.

Sherif said that he hopes that during this period of self-isolation he is able to keep his audience entertained and feeling connected to the outside world while staying safe in their homes. 

“That is the magic of social media. It is an efficient and quick way of sending a message out,” Sherif said.