| Story | Synopsis;Gender Creative Kids Canada is a not-for-profit trans rights advocacy organization in Montreal, founded by the parents of transgender children. Awareness of transgender rights has increased significantly in recent years, but so has transphobia. And transphobia is incredibly harmful, with research reporting that 41% of trans people have attempted suicide.;Within this context, they came to us with an open brief: To make the world a more accepting place for trans youth. This was the sole objective of the project. The greatest challenge would be how to create maximum impact with a budget of $0. The entire project was made possible by corporate donations that funded the production of 500 Sam toys for Canadian schools, a provincial government grant that funded the production of the animated short film "Sam’s Story", and countless donated hours of work from the agency and its partners.;Outcome;Sam’s Story" attracted more than 1 million organic views and significant international coverage from news and culture sites, LGBTQ advocacy groups, celebrities and design organizations. Passionate support for Sam came from Mashable, Upworthy and George Takei in the U.S., as well as sites throughout Europe, Asia and Australia.;The film generated 3.5K shares, 7.3K comments and one very angry video from Canada’s far-right Rebel Media. This visibility helped Sam attract an additional $104,500 CAN in production funding and $100,000 CAN in funding for the larger mission of Gender Creative Kids Canada, by far the largest single donation in their history.;Sam’s Story may just be starting in schools and homes across Canada, but it has already started millions of essential conversations about what it means to grow up transgender.;Execution;We first launched The You Inside Project with the short film "Sam’s Story", which introduced the world to Sam as both an animated character and a toy. The toy design is based on familiar Russian nesting dolls so that children can easily identify the different emotional stages many young people go through while questioning their gender identity. The character design is simple, allowing children to understand what Sam is feeling at each step, and why. The bold colour palette and facial expressions quickly convey the intended emotion at each stage while common elements connect the characters. Donations funded production of 500 toys for Canadian schools, designed and manufactured in a partnership out of BPA-free PVC vinyl using rotational moulding and spray mask/hand-painting. The size of the largest character, Sam “Supported,” measures 20 cm high while the heart inside Sam “Happy” is 2 cm. Each stage of the character was also brought to life in the film, deepening the emotional connection children feel for Sam. The character design needed to function as both a physical toy and as an animated character, optimizing the emotional possibilities of each media while ensuring a connection between the two.;Campaign Description;Our most critical insight was that nobody is born transphobic. It is learned behaviour. If we were to achieve meaningful cultural change, we needed to find a way to stop transphobia before it starts. By educating children, with the world’s first educational transgender toy.;Targeting children directly with such controversial subject matter would also allow us to address the public at large, forcing people on all sides of the issue to engage in a conversation about what it means to grow up transgender, a topic that remains very sensitive in most cultures around the world.;Sam was launched as the centrepiece of The You Inside Project, an educational program designed for teachers, psychologists, parents and childcare professionals to directly communicate our message of empathy and understanding to children in a way they could easily understand. The project also included a short film, "Sam’s Story", and an educational booklet. |
