It has been two years to the tragic drowning of Alan Kurdi. A refugee boy whose body washed up on the shores, shook the world and opened people’s eyes to the plight of a refugee. At that time, the world came together in solidarity. The media coverage that followed was the most defining event of the refugee crisis as the world stood united behind the refugee cause.
Two years on, Y&R’s one-minute video reminds of this tragedy and urges to stand with refugee children in need for safety and protection through #Voice4Alan.
Y&R in partnership with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) created the campaign to commemorate Alan and all refugees who lost their lives as they took to making dangerous journeys across land and sea in their search for safety, security and a better future.
Alan’s story opened people’s eyes and hearts to the plight of refugees around the world and united everyone in supporting them. Today, children have become the face of the protracted refugee crisis due to the negative effects of displacement in their lives.
The campaign aimed at making him the face for refugee children around the world. The campaign was launched across different media with the tagline ‘Remember the name. Remember the Day’, To further support the cause, a special browser plugin for Google Chrome was created to transform the word ‘refugee’ into Alan’s name.
By transforming every mention of the word refugee online into Alan’s name, the campaign turned him into a symbol of all refugees. The campaign was supported with web banners, posts and offline media like radio. All channels lead to the UNHCR voices for refugee’s page, where people can sign up to support the cause.
As an organization, UNHCR is committed to the protection of refugee children, continuously working for their betterment and their protection. Be a #Voice4Alan is a regional UNHCR campaign aimed at raising support for these children and Y&R was proud to be partner in this cause.
