Paddington™ to become a Champion for Children in support of UNICEF
Howard Lake | 22 September 2017 | News
Paddington™ is to become a champion for children in a partnership between UNICEF and Vivendi, the global content, media and communications group and owner of the Paddington brand.
The beloved immigrant bear ‘from darkest Peru’ will help the children’s charity promote the rights of children around the world, and to keep them happy, healthy and safe.
The corporate and charity partners believe that the values exemplified by Paddington – of kindness, tolerance, and perseverance in the face of adversity, or marmalade-related mishaps – make him the perfect champion for children’s rights.
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SEE ALSO: Charity gets help online from darkest Peru
The partnership will be visible first in the UK, USA and Europe, and will coincide with the release of Paddington 2, the sequel to the 2014 film Paddington, and the 60th anniversary in 2018 of the first Paddington book. The partnership will be expanded subequently to other countries.
Vivendi took full ownership of the Paddington brand worldwide in 2016, apart from the classic publishing rights.
UNICEF UK and Paddington
In the UK, Paddington will support UNICEF UK’s campaign around refugee children and will be featured prominently in UNICEF UK’s OutRight campaign, in which millions of children around the UK, learn about their own rights and become empowered to speak out in support of the rights of all children.
This year’s campaign will feature the story of the small bear, who has to leave his home in Darkest Peru, and is sent to London with a label around his neck politely asking whoever finds him to ’Please look after this bear. Thank you.’
Paddington’s link to refugee children is well-known. Michael Bond, the author of the Paddington books, who died in June this year, told The Daily Telegraph in 2014 how the bear’s story was partly inspired by his memories of seeing Jewish children arriving at Reading station having escaped from Germany on the kindertransport.
He said: “I remember their labels round their necks and then I remember going to the cinema and seeing on the newsreel that Hitler had moved into some new country and seeing footage of elderly people pushing prams with all their belongings in them. Refugees are the saddest sight, I still think that”.
Paddington finds a new family, home and community, with a little help from his friendly nature, politeness, and ability to stand up for himself when needed, by fixing people who have ’forgotten’ how to behave with a ’hard stare’.
UNICEF UK believe that his story will help children in the UK learn that the right to a home, to be cared for and to an education applies to all children.
Kindness of strangers
Lily Caprani, Deputy Executive Director, UNICEF UK, said: “We are living in a time when millions of children around the world are being forced to leave their homes, and to put their trust in the kindness of strangers. As such, it seems especially appropriate and welcome to be working with a partner like Vivendi, and to have a champion like Paddington, whose own story of leaving Darkest Peru and finding a new family and home in a strange country, resonates as strongly and freshly today, as it did when it was first published.
“With the help of partners like Vivendi and Paddington, we will be able to make sure that millions more people hear about children’s rights, and with their support, build a world in which every child, wherever they are, knows that there will be people like Mr and Mrs Brown, to keep them happy, healthy and safe.”
Simon Gillham OBE, member of the Vivendi Management Board, stated: “We are hugely proud that UNICEF has chosen Paddington as a champion for its campaign to promote the rights of children all around the globe. Paddington is the perfect example of tolerance, love and openness to other cultures, from Peru to the rest of the world.”
Paddington and children’s charities
Paddington has been busy helping other UK charities fundraise and promote children’s needs:
- The Paddington trail raises over £930k for NSPCC (26 January 2015)
- Paddington launches Bear Miles for Action for Children (1 August 2014)
- Paddington: a platform for fundraising (9 August 1999)
- Paddington launches website to benefit Action Research (10 July 2001)
WATCH: Paddington, episode 1: Please look after this bear
[Video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdVPymvBCm8 no longer available].
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.