Popular retail store Claire’s and anti-bullying charity The Cybersmile Foundation have announced the launch of a Bullying Prevention Month initiative that educates and empowers young people while encouraging kindness.
The month-long campaign titled #ClairesCares will promote important online safety and anti-bullying messages, while raising funds for Cybersmile’s education and support facilities by collecting donations in Claire’s stores across North America, Canada and the U.K.
As part of the campaign, Claire’s have created a Cybersmile themed landing page with top tips for dealing with bullying and cyberbullying, along with the opportunity to take the Digital Civility Challenge, an interactive educational quiz which educates users on important topics including digital civility, online safety, using emoji, online security, fact checking, and technology & wellbeing.
Claire’s and Cybersmile launched their partnership in 2017, which has so far enabled the charity to help over 43,000 young and vulnerable people. Recently, it was announced by the charity that Claire’s ongoing support had helped make it possible for Cybersmile to offer their premium education programs to parents and schools completely free of charge.
Funds raised throughout the campaign will be used to provide help and support to young people affected by a wide variety of important social issues which include cyberbullying, bullying, anxiety, body image and mental health. The funds will also contribute to the further development of Cybersmile’s interactive learning platform, which delivers fun, interactive educational experiences for people of all ages.
In an article on the Cybersmile website, the organization’s Chief Policy Officer Laura Lewandowski thanked Claire’s for their continued support and for allowing them to “change and save the lives of many thousands of young people around the world.”
Cyberbullying has quickly become one of the main concerns for parents of young children and teenagers. A 2018 study by Pew Research Center indicated that over half (59%) of teens in the U.S. have reported being bullied online, and over a third (39%) of girls reported false rumors being spread online with the real number likely to be much higher.
This #ClairesCares campaign is a great example of common cause, with Claire’s customer base being made up of huge numbers of young people that are statistically very likely to be affected by bullying and cyberbullying, and Cybersmile offering support and education solutions that can scale to the needs of all those young people so deeply affected.
