Love Has No Labels continues to extend the message of diversity through brand partners

NEW YORK, June 1, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Love Has No Labels, the Ad Council's iconic campaign promoting diversity and inclusion, is extending its message through new brand partners and activations throughout the month of June, including a presence at the New York City Pride Parade and Pride Festival on June 26, to celebrate LGBT Pride Month. The Ad Council leads an unprecedented group of iconic brands in this integrated campaign to further acceptance of all communities. Founding campaign brand partners, The Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo, P&G, Unilever and State Farm®, will be joined by new partners Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Johnson & Johnson in advancing the reach and impact of the campaign during Pride and throughout the year.

"Pride is a wonderful depiction of Love Has No Labels and it provides the opportunity for each and every one of us to celebrate love and diversity," said Lisa Sherman, president and CEO of the Ad Council. "We are thrilled to join with our brand partners to continue to shine a spotlight on our own unconscious bias, and encourage all of us to use that awareness to help create a more inclusive society."

Love Has No Labels is kicking off Pride Month with a user-generated content contest encouraging all Americans to "Say YAS if Your Love Has No Labels" and share videos and images in support of the campaign and LGBT Pride Month. The campaign is also launching original graphics for Love Has No Labels and brand channels.

Furthermore, campaign brand partners will be participating in over 30 Pride events across the country, posting celebratory messages on their social channels, and engaging employees to celebrate diversity and inclusion. Activations include creating customized Pride-themed product packaging, various employee network events, social influencer programs and more.

Created pro bono by R/GA and launched in February 2015, Love Has No Labels encourages audiences to recognize their implicit biases—biases that live in our subconscious —in order to promote acceptance regardless of race, religion, gender, sexuality, age and ability. Since the initial video debuted exclusively by Upworthy, it has been viewed over 160 million times making it the 2^nd most viewed video in 2015. As a result, there have been over 2.7 million sessions on lovehasnolabels.com, where visitors can take a quiz to examine their own biases. Additionally, more adults report discussing discrimination and prejudice and saying that they are regularly accepting and inclusive of others, according to a recent Ad Council survey. While the campaign has made significant strides in promoting diversity and inclusion, there is still work to be done: Approximately 20 percent of adults still report they themselves are prejudiced or discriminatory.

The campaign has received an outpouring of support and recognition: the video, created by R/GA, won eight Cannes Lions and 11 Clio Awards and within days of the initial video launch, the message was shared by influencers including the First Lady, George Takei, Deepak Chopra and Mario Goetz.

To date, the campaign has received nearly $27 million in donated media, including $8.68 million in media value generating nearly 6 billion digital impressions from AOL.

New creative for Love Has No Labels will be launching across the country this summer.

The Ad Council

The Ad Council is a private, non-profit organization with a rich history of marshaling volunteer talent from the advertising and media industries to deliver critical messages to the American public. To learn more about the Ad Council and its campaigns, visit www.adcouncil.org, like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or view our PSAs on YouTube.

Addendum of brand partner quotes:

"Love Has No Labels" celebrates our shared commitment to diversity and inclusion by encouraging people to examine their unconscious biases," said Meredith Verdone, Enterprise, Consumer and GWIM Marketing executive and Ad Council Executive Committee member. "We're proud to partner with an organization dedicated to raising awareness of important public issues."

"P&G is a proud partner of the Love Has No Labels campaign," said Nate Lawton, Associate Brand Director, P&G.  "In support of 2016 LGBT Pride Month, we believe 'Labels are for products, not people.'"

"State Farm is proud to be a sponsor of this national program and we value the positive power of diversity and inclusion. Our good neighbor culture thrives on treating customers, employees and agents with respect and appreciation" says Leif Roll, VP of Marketing at State Farm.

"Unilever encourages employees to bring their whole selves to work," said Jonathan Atwood, Vice President of Sustainable Business and Communications, North America and Executive Sponsor of Unilever's US PRIDE network. "We are proud to partner with the Love Has No Labels campaign for a second year to break through bias and celebrate what makes each of us unique."

"The 'Love Has No Labels' campaign celebrates diversity and inclusion, a value we hold dear at Wells Fargo," said Jamie Moldafsky, chief marketing officer, Wells Fargo and Ad Council Board member.  "We're proud to take part in this year's campaign and support the Ad Council's important work."

SOURCE The Ad Council

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