With Pride celebrations kicking off this Sunday, Snap has partnered with youth mental health and wellbeing organisation ReachOut to bring allyship front and centre on Snapchat.
As thousands of people come to Sydney to celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community, Snap and ReachOut will launch an in-app augmented reality (AR) experience, focused on allyship, and educating Snapchatters about how to be a better ally to the LGBTQIA+ community.
Through a Face Lens called Under One Sky as an Ally, Snapchat users can utilise the power of AR to share with their closest friends and family that they are a proud LGBTQIA+ ally and directly access important resources on ReachOut’s Allyship information hub.
ReachOut Director of marketing & fundraising, Tracey Campbell said: “ReachOut is excited to be partnering with Snap during Pride to encourage young people to be good LGBTQIA+ allies. Around 35 percent of young people accessing ReachOut’s youth mental health and wellbeing services identify as LGBTQIA+.
“Being a good ally and doing what you can to call out discrimination can help young people in the community feel supported. We are proud to be working alongside Snapchat to help spread this message and encourage strong allyship.”
Snapchat reaches a community of more than 7 million Australians, including 75% of people aged 13-34. For Gen Z and young Millennial Snapchatters, allyship is an important demonstration of their support for their friends, family and communities.
Snap APAC head of policy, Henry Turnbull said: “At Snap we believe it’s really important to promote the safety and wellbeing of LGBTQIA+ people and the wider community. It’s great to be able to support ReachOut, who are doing critical work in this space, to share meaningful resources with young people.”
As Pride celebrations in Sydney continue throughout February, Snap will also launch a Face + World Lens called Under One Sky Together which will be available around the Pride parade. By opening the Lens, Snapchatters will be encouraged to find another person, at which point a Pride rainbow will connect the two people together through AR.
Users can then turn the camera and point their phone to the sky, where a Pride rainbow will animate in front of them, and they will be able to share a message of celebration and empowerment with their friends.
See also: Snapchat looks back at the top augmented reality campaigns of 2022