Love Has No Labels

A video entitled Love Has No Labels broke out as a viral sensation this past week, with over 50 million views worldwide in five days. The video and other elements were the work of the Ad Council. Priscilla Natkins (a Scarsdale resident for many years), who oversees the development of all of the campaigns at the Ad Council, provided some interesting background on this extraordinary effort.

The goal of the campaign is pretty straightforward – further acceptance of all communities regardless of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation or age. The ultimate goal is to encourage everyone to examine their own implicit bias. Leading non-profits in this space (including the Anti-Defamation League, Human Rights Campaign and Southern Poverty Law Center) serve as partners to this issue.

The ad agency, R/GA worked on a pro bono basis to develop the creative idea, centered around an event held in Santa Monica on Valentine's Day. From this event, a three minute video was developed, and after being posted on Upworthy's Facebook page, spread like wildfire.

Shorter versions of the video were released a few days ago, to coincide with the 50th Anniversary of the Selma Marches, an event that reminds everyone, that although great progress has been made in promoting equality and reducing acts of discrimination, there's still much to accomplish.

News coverage of the video has been equally impressive. Good Morning America, World News Tonight, CNN, the Washington Post, Cosmopolitan, People magazine, Upworthy,Today.com, Buzzfeed, and Funny or Die...to name just a few. More than a million Facebook users have shared to their own pages, causing both 'Ad Council' and 'Love Has No Labels' to become trending topics. Click here to see a link to the Good Morning America segment.

Priscilla noted "we are deeply proud of all of the work we do on behalf of so many important issues facing our country, but we are particularly grateful for the outpouring of support behind this critical issue. We are still reeling from the success! I am personally so honored to be a part of this".