The New York office of global creative agency Sid Lee is very proud to unveil its new #LoveHateBack anti-cyberbullying project, which is the latest offering from its inventive Sid Lee Collective program, a creative incubator allowing staff members to bring their personal creative projects to life.
A growing problem that occurs all over the world, Sid Lee's research into cyberbullying finds that half of the planet's social media-using teens have been bullied online, while one quarter of them report being bullied repeatedly. That has led one fifth of these teens to think about suicide, and one tenth of them to attempt it.
"Though others have brought attention to cyberbullying, we wanted to help these teens in a meaningful way," explained Sid Lee NYC creative director Daniel Chandler. "With #LoveHateBack, our creative team set out to create a powerful initiative that would empower teens who feel powerless against cyberbullies by transforming hatred into beautiful works of art. Out of this process, we are already seeing amazing healing results, and we feel this platform and initiative has a great potential to help many others."
Today, the project's website launches online at http://lovehateback.com, where victims of cyberbullying are invited to view inspirational artworks created by others and contribute their own.
The site features a documentary video produced by Sid Lee, as well as original artworks created over the past several weeks through a multifaceted program that began with a workshop held at the Sid Lee NYC headquarters back in May. There, 11 fine artists selected by curator John Morrow collaborated with 25 teens from Claremont International High School in the Bronx to create collages addressing personal experiences with bullying. The artists' resulting artworks inspired by the workshop will appear at the inaugural #LoveHateBack art exhibition, auction and benefit on Sept. 23 at NYC's ADC Gallery (106 W. 29th Street) from 6-9 p.m.
The digital art marketplace Paddle8 will exclusively facilitate the auction for all #LoveHateBack artworks, which will run through Oct. 6 with proceeds benefiting PACER's National Bullying Prevention Center.
"We are very proud of everyone in our NYC office who has brought this project to life, and we are encouraged that this inaugural #LoveHateBack campaign will not only benefit teens in New York City but also many others across America," said Sid Lee NYC's managing partner Lukas Derksen, who will be among the attendees at the Sept. 23 reception. "Turning potentially deadly negative emotions associated with cyberbullying into beautiful art is a phenomenon that we are very proud to lead and participate in."
Space is limited for the Sept. 23 reception – to RSVP please visit http://love-hate-back.eventbrite.com.
About Sid Lee
With offices in Amsterdam, Montreal, New York, Paris and Toronto, international creative services firm Sid Lee is rapidly transforming consumer experiences for a growing list of top-tier brands in over 20 countries and across all touch points. Named "Agency of the Year" four times in recent history, the firm opened Sid Lee NYC in 2012, bringing Sid Lee's signature multidisciplinary and holistic approaches to bear on the advertising, architecture and retail design, branded content and entertainment, digital and social media, branding, and reputation management needs of the USA's most engaging companies. To learn more about the Sid Lee culture and people, follow http://facebook.com/MeetSidLee, http://twitter.com/SidLee and visit http://sidlee.com.
