‘Unbox Me’ campaign explores the theme of secrets and highlights transgender children’s challenges
Unaids, FCB India and GCB Chicago launched the “Unbox Me” project, an initiative that aims to raise awareness of the rights of transgender children and enable them to embrace their personalities.
Part of the #SeeMeAsIAm campaign, “Unbox Me” explores the theme of secrets, seeking to highlight the challenges of transgender children, such as being forced “in the closet” and discomfort with their assigned gender, often from the age of two. deity.
“In India, children often have a box that they use to store their most precious possessions. In the case of trans children, however, they need to hide their treasure chests, as some of their most precious possessions do not conform to the gender norm that society expects of them,” explained Swati Bhattacharya, Creative Chairperson at FCB India and creator of the campaign.
To publicize the campaign, agencies sent boxes to prominent people in the trans community in videos that allude to “unboxings”.
“Gender diversity is not just an issue for adults, but for people of all ages, including children. There are thousands of children around the world like the ones who sent their boxes, and they want to express and claim their identities,” said Mahesh Mahalingam, Director of Communications and Global Support at UNAIDS.
The initiative has already had the participation of important figures, such as the Indian filmmaker Zoya Akhtar and the TV journalist, Barkha Dutt. In addition, teachers from many schools spread the message in their own communities of parents, students, and teachers.
“Unbox Me” builds on messages similar to the work carried out by UNAIDS and the FCB in their year-long partnership.
On International Transgender Visibility Day 2021, they released “The Mirror,” a film written by Bhattacharya that features a boy looking in the mirror and dressing as a woman. The campaign aimed to promote gender identity awareness during childhood.
