"Stop Bullying:Speak Up" Pro-Social Campaign
Research & Student Success Stories
Cartoon Network's "Stop Bullying: Speak Up" is a multi-platform, pro-social initiative launched in 2010 to combat bullying. The campaign was created in direct response to audience feedback, with children identifying bullying as one of the biggest problems they face. The initiative encourages bystanders and targets of bullying to speak up and involves a variety of partnerships, resources, and programming.
Campaign components
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Encourages bystanders to act: The core message is to motivate bystanders to speak up safely and effectively when they witness bullying.
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Engages kids and adults: The campaign provides resources and content for children, parents, and educators, including online materials, video content, and educator guides.
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Public service announcements (PSAs): Cartoon Network airs PSAs featuring its popular characters to promote anti-bullying messages. Some of these have focused on issues like identity-based bullying.
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Special programming: During National Bullying Prevention Month in October, the network features special programming on bullying. This has included documentaries like Speak Up (2012), introduced by President Barack Obama, and The Bully Effect (2013), hosted by Anderson Cooper.
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Interactive content: The campaign has launched interactive online efforts, such as the "I Speak Up" video campaign in 2014, which collected pledges to stop bullying.
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Inclusion initiatives: Later expansions of the campaign have focused on promoting kindness and inclusion. The 2019 "Include Someone, Make a Difference" initiative partnered with PACER's National Bullying Prevention Center to show how kids can stop bullying by actively including their peers.
Partnerships and endorsements
To ensure its messaging is based on research and expert guidance, Cartoon Network has partnered with several anti-bullying experts and organizations.
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PACER's National Bullying Prevention Center: A long-time collaborator, PACER's resources and Unity Awards are celebrated in the campaign's educational materials.
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826 National: This non-profit works with the campaign to empower youth voices and distribute educational materials.
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White House endorsement: In 2011, the campaign participated in the first White House Bullying Prevention Summit. The 2012 Speak Up documentary also received an introduction from President Obama.
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Other partners: Additional collaborators have included the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, the Anti-Defamation League, and other federal and community organizations.
I led my team in storyboarding and guiding illustrated student success stories
Since 2010, Cartoon Networks "Stop Bullying:Speak Up" campaign has been empowering kids to speak up safely and effectively in the face of bullying.
Evolving to include social emotional learning techniques and preventative instruction that spans bullying in person and on-line, we created the following pieces to elevate kids voices and inspire greater kindness, compassion and empathy to stop bullying before it starts.
In partnership with 826 National and 826 Digital, we collected real stories from kids around the U.S about situations where they prevented bullying or included someone in a positively impactful way.
Animations by
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Tyson McAdoo
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Sam Leyja
This campaign was the winner of the 2019 social activism award.
Full Reports Here
2020 Cyberbullying Research
Award Winning!
With all of the progress that has been made to understand cyberbullying among teens, very little is known about the behaviors as they occur among tweens: kids ages 9 to 12 years old. In response, Cartoon Network, partnered with the Cyberbullying Research Center to conduct a first of its kind nationally-representative survey of more than 1,000 9- to 12-year-olds, to better understand cyberbullying prevalence and behaviors among this age group. Our goal is to elevate these findings with like-minded organizations and move toward creating more informed responses. The study was made possible with support from AT&T.
CN Stop Bullying: Speak Up 2017-2020