Founded by a group of Londoners with continental roots, the aim was to send the British people a "love bomb" to make them stay in the European Union. Europeans were hugging Brits and posting images of it on social media to encourage a Remain vote in the referendum. Photos and videos of those hugs were shared via Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and also became very popular in the traditional media in Britain and internationally. The campaign went viral just before the referendum in April and May 2016. Despite a strong voice in the media, the campaign was not able to turn around the vote, which resulted in an overall decision to leave the EU.
