The month of February is when people around the world are talk about and celebrate “love” around the time of Valentine’s Day. And Peace Pirates, a group of voluntary members who are passionate about DEI-related topics, thought “what better time to talk about love and family and its many shades and shapes?” This is the report of a month-long internal event “Love for All ~ celebrating Love and Family in all its shapes” to encourage all employees to think about the diversifying forms of family, love, lifestyle and happiness.

Where it began – Introducing Same-sex and common law partnership registration system for TBWA\HAKUHODO

The “Same-sex Partnership Oath System” was implemented throughout Tokyo in November 2022. Until now in Japan, “family” was recognized on the premise of “marriage” or “blood ties,” and people with partners who did not assume such a relationship were at disadvantages in various aspects of daily life (e.g., inheritance, hospital procedures, parental authority-related matters, etc.). However, with the introduction and expansion of the partnership oath system in each municipality in Japan, some of these disadvantages for people in sexual minority partnership relationships have been alleviated.

In order to respond to changing values and lifestyles, from October 2022, TBWA\HAKUHODO introduced a system that allows employees who choose common-law partnership (de facto marriage) or same-sex partnership systems to receive congratulatory and condolence payments and the same leave as those for legal marriages, in order to respect each employee’s values and lifestyle.

Just as each person’s face is different, each person has his/her unique standard and definition of “love,” “happiness,” and “way of life”. The shape of a family is not limited to a combination of “mom, dad, and kids,” but also includes living alone, living with a partner or friends, single parents, foster parents, beloved pets, living with grandparents or relatives, and many more.

With the introduction of the “Same-sex and common law partnership registration system,” Peace Pirates wanted to rethink the diversifying forms of family and love within the company – and in cooperation with HR and the Work Style Innovation team, organized a month-long internal event – “Love for All – Love and Family in all its shapes”.

Valentine’s Day events: Love for all in Creativity / Love & Wine Tuesday

On Valentine’s Day, two in-house events were held.
The first one was “Love for all in Creativity,” a talk session by members of Peace Pirates that featured advertising works and companies’ initiatives from around the world.
Insights and hints for creativity were sought from creative advertisements depicting various forms of love and family, examples of brand experiences and services, as well as companies’ response communication to social movements and reactions. In addition, the results of an internal family survey were shared, showing the wide variety of family forms that exist within TBWA\HAKUHODO.

The second event was of course – “Love & Wine Tuesday.”
At the event, delicious wine (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic), cheese, and chocolates were served. Many TBWA\HAKUHODO members gathered to enjoy wine and snacks while listening to classic love songs and discussing various forms of love and family and Peace Pirates activities.

Disruptor Series with ryuchell (Model/Entertainer) & Makiko Terahara (Marriage for All Japan Representative Director/Lawyer)

TBWA\HAKUHODO has been holding the “Disruptor Series,” guest-speaker sessions that invite the Disruptors who are working beyond conventional thinking in a variety of industries.
This time, we invited ryuchell, a TV personality and model who has announced the decision to pursue a new kind of family, and Ms. Terahara, Representative Director of Marriage for All Japan, who has been working for the legalization of same-sex marriage in Japan with the goal of “freedom of marriage for all”.

Before the session, we gathered questions from our employees to ask the guests. Various and honest questions ranging from work to personal life were collected such as: “How should advertising and creative expression depict the ideal image of family and love?” or “Please give us advice on how I should give gender education to my children,” or What do you think is the necessity of legalizing same-sex marriages instead of just recognizing them as partners?

To the question of “Why should same-sex marriage be recognized and protected as a legal right?”, Ms. Terahara pointed out that “not recognizing legal marriage right for sexual minorities means that they do not need to be given the same protection as the sexual majority.” ryuchell said that real diversity is not to deny the values that have existed for a long time, but to let everyone to accept that it is okay to be/believe something that has never existed before, as it’s okay to believe something traditional. It was a session full of hints and insights about a society that truly embraces diversity. (A detailed report will be published separately soon!)
==

Our CEO Akihiko Imai, who participated in all the sessions commented: “I believe that the “Love for All – Love and Family in All Its Shapes” event was a good opportunity for us to raise our awareness of DE&I to the next level. “What is true diversity?” This is a theme that we, as a creative agency, should always ask ourselves. We will continue to create opportunities to think and act together like this with Peace Pirates. Also, as for the company’s system, let’s continue to update even the smallest things with all Pirates who share the same aspirations, and create an environment where everyone feels safe and encouraged to demonstrate our creativity to the fullest.”

As a creative company responsible for delivering messages to society through creativity, we believe that one of our important duties is for each and every one of our members to think from the standpoint of various people and strive to realize a society in which all people can live fulfilling lives.

We look forward to showcasing more Peace Pirates and TBWA\HAKUHODO’s activities on DEI on STORIES so please watch this space!

Communications Team (koho@tbwahakuhodo.co.jp)