MOSI celebrates ‘I Love MCR’ campaign

The ‘I Love MCR’ campaign that united the people of Manchester following the August riots is the focus of a new exhibition at MOSI (Museum of Science & Industry, Manchester).

Campaign T-shirts signed by Sir Alex Ferguson, Freddie Flintoff, rugby star Ben Cohen and Tina Malone from Shameless are among the items on display.

The exhibition celebrates the city's response to the disturbances and hopes to raise money for charity by auctioning items from the collection to the businesses and residents that took part in the campaign.

Andrew Stokes, chief executive of Marketing Manchester, said: "The exhibition at MOSI celebrates the three week campaign and pays tribute to the individuals and organisations that made it the success that it was. We also hope to add to the £9,000 that the campaign raised for charity by auctioning items from the collection online."

Councillor Pat Karney, city centre spokesman for Manchester City Council, said: "The I Love MCR campaign was a tremendous demonstration of pride which showed the true face of our city. It's brilliant that local charities, which epitomise the spirit of Manchester, are going to benefit further from its legacy."

The exhibition will run at MOSI until Wednesday, 26 October when Manchester City Council will host an event to thank the more than 350 businesses that supported the campaign.

The 'I Love MCR' campaign was launched by Marketing Manchester, Manchester Arndale and Manchester City Council and was supported by CityCo. It ran from Thursday, 11 August until Sunday, 4 September.

The campaign in numbers: 22,000 Facebook fans; £9,000 raised for charity; £750,000 worth of media coverage; 350 supporting organisations; 1.8 million Facebook post views; 33,000 active Facebook users; from campaign concept to launch in 12 hours; 46,000 Tweets using #ILoveMCR; and national trending on Twitter worth £74,000.

The £9,000 raised for charity from the sale of 'I Love MCR' T-shirts was donated to Forever Manchester and Reclaim. You can still join the 'I Love MCR' campaign at: www.facebook.com/WeLoveMCR

ENDS