The campaign, “Love Has No Labels,” is all about inclusion and diversity shown by various citizens making it like no other campaign today. It began in March 2015 when a video regarding the movement went viral. Then, in 2016, the campaign released a video featuring John Cena called “We Are America.” The video touched on how most of the United States is made up of minority groups and encourages other Americans to love one another, despite their race, religion, or gender. This campaign is all about compassion and inclusion, but most importantly awareness. Everyone needs to be aware of the individual types of people that we share this great country with. We all have differences, but they don’t make us weird, they make us unique. The “Love Has No Labels” campaign brings awareness to citizens about how we all have differences, but everyone should be treated with the same respect as these labels do not define us.
“Love Has No Labels” has a simple, yet effective message that resonates with everyone in America. Everyone knows someone that is noticeably different than the rest of society, and this movement aims to make people aware of these unique citizens and help include them into our society. The campaign started with the viral video of skeletons dancing and embracing, and then the people who were in the video were revealed to be so diverse from one another. There were different races and ages that made this video so inspiring. It became the second most viewed social activism video of all time. This video connected with people from all different regions and of all different colors, shapes, and sizes. The target audience of this campaign is everyone in America. The goal of this campaign is to reach all different demographics and psychographics and display them as something unique about individuals in our society. The website features photos of people of all ages and races, and men and women that have disabilities. The website shows these photos to relate with their target audience, because it’s reality. The photos are not photoshopped or tampered with to look more appealing, because they know that their audience wants to see something real that showcases all the characteristics of people that make them so diverse, yet all united because everyone is human. The campaign’s website includes even more on how they plan to treat everyone equally and how we can make a difference.
As soon as you click on the “Love Has No Labels” website you will be transfixed, because you will have never seen a website that is so colorful and diverse. The website contains not only pictures of all types of people, but it also contains their stories. Some of the stories provide a glance into the life of someone very different from us, but the website makes it their mission to inform and aid us in understanding the problems that some people face just for being unique. At the bottom of each story featured on their website they have a “What Would You Do” section and below it gives readers tips on how to make sure we are being inclusive of everyone in our daily lives. After clicking on a story titled, “Not Black Enough,” we were brought to a page that described the short story of Alexis. She is a 20-year-old African American woman from South Carolina and grew up surrounded by all sorts of books, music, and movies because of her parents who worked as college professors in the Midwest. She claims, “I’ve got diverse tastes, speak proper English and did well in school. As a result, I’ve been called an Oreo all my life. ‘Oh, Alexis is black on the outside and white on the inside.” She hates this term, mainly because it makes her feel as though just because she is black, she should enjoy certain stereotypes like hip-hop and Spike Lee movies. She ends her story by declaring, “Sorry I’m not black enough for you.” Under the “What Would You Do” heading, the website encourages minority groups to “Affirm Your Pride.” By being proud of who you are, despite your religion or what color your skin is, own it. Don’t be afraid to say you’re confident in being yourself. It also suggests to respond with questions.; challenge stereotypes and bias by asking, “Where does ‘too ethnic’ begin and ‘not ethnic enough’ end?” Both of these suggestions provide ways to combat situations in which someone from a minority group faces prejudice and racism.
The video that catapulted the “Love Has No Labels” campaign into action is about four minutes long and starts off by showing a screen placed on a busy street during Valentine’s Day in 2015. The screen lights up to reveal two skeletons kissing and embracing. Moments later, a woman peeks her head around the corner as another woman on the opposite side walks to the front of the stage. The couple embraces again in front of a quickly forming and applauding audience. Throughout the rest of the video, the same instances occur, but with all types of people. Some include an African American woman and an Asian man, two young sisters, one with Autism, and a family of two men and a happy toddler. After each person revealed themselves from behind the screen, messages appeared behind them. They read, “Love Has No Race,” “Love Has No Disability,” “Love Has No Gender,” etc. This video demonstrates that love should never be based on one’s physical appearance or the religion they practice, but their compassion for others. The campaign’s second video, “We Are America,” features John Cena, professional wrestler and actor. The video itself is short in length, but preaches a strong message. Cena talks about how America is founded on love and devotion. He also talks about how there is more to patriotism than “rodeos and quadruple cheeseburgers,” and encourages us to start loving the people around us. Almost half of the country is comprised of minority groups including African Americans, Native Americans, and the LGBTQ community. The video ends with Cena reminding us that to love America is to love all Americans. So, if John Cena tells us to stop labeling others, we should probably stop labeling others.
Finally, the last video to be released so far called “Fans of Love,” focuses on Kiss Cams and their power to connect people. In 2017 at the NFL Pro Bowl in Orlando, “Love Has No Labels” devised the plan to use a Kiss Cam on all kinds of couples attending the game, just like the skeleton video. The camera showed people kissing someone of a different race, a family with two dads, and a little boy hugging his disabled brother. The entire stadium was smiling up at the screen, watching others embrace their partners/family members. The message of this campaign coincides with the previous videos that have been released so far. As humans, we must love one another for the sake of society becoming a better place. The world can be full of hate, but movements like “Love Has No Labels” is starting to make a change.
In conclusion, “Love Has No Labels” has made a significant impact and is beginning to spark a change in the way people treat minorities. This campaign has made people aware of the impact we can have on society by including everyone and not singling people out based on their differences. We are all one community and in order for our country to succeed we need to treat people with the respect and dignity that they rightfully deserve. By bringing to light the types of relationships that defy the norms, like a biracial couple or two lovers of the same gender, we have made a small step as a society in acceptance. “Love Has No Labels” has sparked a movement of making America more inclusive and safe, now the question is: what can we do?