CHILDREN across Yorkshire and the Humber are once again being encouraged to be kind ahead of the Diana Award’s Anti-Bullying Week (11-15 November).
This year sees the return of the BEKIND campaign from ITV’s This Morning, encouraging kids to speak out, stand up and be kind, with support from the popular stationery and gifts brand Smiggle.
Kids can show their support for the cause by visiting their local Smiggle store from Thursday 7th November to pick up a free, limited edition Smiggle BEKIND keyring.
Smiggle has produced 100,000 keyrings and these are available for free in all its stores in Yorkshire and the Humber. Anybody who wants to show their support can pick one up and sport it any way they like, be it on their set of keys, backpack or lunchbox.
Throughout Anti-Bullying Week, celebrities and hosts on This Morning will also be showing their support with the Smiggle BEKIND keyrings.
John Cheston, Managing Director of Smiggle, said: “We are proud to be working with This Morning for a second time on the very important BEKIND campaign. We want to help empower all of our fans to be able to speak out if they are being bullied themselves, stand up for those who are being bullied and always choose kindness.
“As the place where a smile meets a giggle, the health and happiness of our fans is incredibly important to us and so it was easy to decide to support this campaign again.”
Philip Schofield said: “Our BEKIND initiative is one of the This Morning campaigns of which I am most proud. Educating children to use social media kindly is vital for all parents, carers, schools and beyond. Here at This Morning we hope we can play our part to help too.”
Holly Willoughby added: “With young children myself, I understand how important it is to talk openly about the subject of bullying. This Morning’s BEKIND initiative has helped many many children across the UK and I’m so pleased we’re working with Smiggle for a second time this Anti-Bullying Week.”
Dr. Ranj said: “I’m proud to support ITV and Smiggle’s anti-bullying campaign this Anti-Bullying Week. Our new keyrings will act as a great daily reminder for each of us to do our very best to be kind every day.”
This Morning Editor Martin Frizell said: “Sadly, we know that being bullied as a child can have long lasting effects into adulthood and so it is vital that all kids are armed with the tools they need to discuss bullying. We’re thrilled to once again be partnering with Smiggle this Anti-Bullying Week to launch 100,000 free BEKIND keyring in stores.”
People taking part in the campaign are being encouraged to upload photographs of their free Smiggle keyrings to social media throughout the week to show their support, using the hashtag #BEKIND.
To find out more about Smiggle and where you can pick up a free band to show your support visit smiggle.co.uk/bekind