Smiley marks 75 years of Declaration of Human Rights with refugee charity

A crowd of people waving and forming hearts with their hands

Smiley marks 75 years of Declaration of Human Rights with refugee charity

Smiley News has launched a new campaign in collaboration with refugee charity, Choose Love, that marks the 75th year of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The companies brought together a host of music, film, and entertainment figures, including Olivia Colman, Bella Ramsey, Jude Law, and Annie Lennox, to spotlight and bring the Declaration articles to life, through a series of short films, shared on TikTok and Smiley News, the non-profit arm of POC member, The Smiley Company.

The initiative aims to highlight the importance of human rights, while raising awareness and funds for Choose Love, through branded merchandise, including t-shirts, sweatshirts and tote bags, available to purchase from smiley.com.

This collaboration is the latest in the Smiley Movement’s Matchmaker for Good initiative, which connects companies with over 25,000 charities and non-profit projects to match their Corportate Social Responsibility (CSR) goals. Smiley provides access to its IP free of charge to create branded products to raise funds for the selected charity.

Nicolas Loufrani, CEO, The Smiley Company & CEO and executive producer of Smiley Movement said, “Smiley Movement’s vision has always been to inspire positive change through Smiley News. In today’s world, it is essential to reflect on the continued relevance of this landmark document. 

I’m proud to have invested in these films and partnered with Choose Love. The fact that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed by 193 UN member states shows just how universal and significant it is for all of us.

“Matchmaker For Good™ is an incredible initiative that allows brands to harness the power of the iconic Smiley brand, and is the first charitable initiative for partners. It allows organisations to create a powerful positive change and deliver much needed help and support to charities and causes around the world. I’m very proud of the work that Choose Love are doing and excited to see how we can continue to help work with more.”

This collaboration with Choose Love, comes off the back of Smiley’s recent other Matchmaker for Good campaign, which brought together children’s mental health charity, Place2Be, with Next and SmileyWorld, for World Mental Health Day on 10 October. T-shirts from the collaboration were sold exclusively online at Next, with 100% of the profits going towards to Place2Be charity, a leading provider of school-based mental health support for whole school communities.

A family of four stands with their backs to the camera wearing matching t-shirts with Smiley print
T-shirts from Smiley’s collaboration with Next and children’s mental health charity, Place2Be.

“The collaboration was created as part of the Matchmaker For Good initiative as well and we’re thrilled that Next were so keen to work with such an important charity,” added Nicolas.

The t-shirts featured an icon from SmileyWorld with the message “Be Yourself, Keep it Real,” a message which aligns with Smiley’s own endeavours to spread positivity.

This is integration of messages also extends to Smiley’s Choose Love collaboration, explains Nicolas, “Smiley’s vision has always been to inspire positive change through whether it be through the products we create or via Smiley Movement and Smiley News.

“This is why we have created Matchmaker For Good, as an opportunity to bridge the gap between our partners and organisations that deliver much needed help to causes around the world. This allows us to harness the power of the iconic Smiley brand and use it for good on products that go directly to benefit a network of other 25,000 charities, or in this case Choose Love. We then amplify the partnership via our marketing channels, enhancing visibility, and amplifying the impact it has amongst consumers.”

Smiley’s Matchmaker for Good initiative provides plenty of opportunities for companies to connect, spotlight and support the work of some very meaningful charities and campaigns, so what’s next? “There’s always a huge amount in the pipeline for Smiley” said Nicolas. “We’re incredibly excited to be launching new collaborations with major retailers and brands, currently and over the coming few months, including H&M, Zara, Moschino, & Balenciaga and more yet to be announced. As well as launching our holiday campaigns, this includes a magical House of Smiley that is yet to be announced!”

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