Disney UK has joined forces with Little Inventors to encourage kids to channel their creativity and imaginations to come up with invention ideas that could help change the world.

New research reveals that ‘being kind to others’, ‘people not having enough to eat’ and ‘protecting animals and their habitats’, are among the top 10 issues that UK children are most concerned about in 2019.

The poll of over 1,000 4 – 14 year-old girls and boys was commissioned by Disney UK, as part of its Dream Big, Princess campaign, which asked children to identify the issues that they most want to fix or improve in the world, ranging from cleaning the ocean, to world hunger.

The research also found that children are becoming more socially conscious with 64 per cent feeling that they have the power to make the world around them a better place. Almost half (48 per cent) of all children polled also said they were prepared to stand up for the things they believe in, with 23 per cent having already campaigned about things they care about at school. Nine per cent of children have even written to the Prime Minister or their local MP to ask that they look into an issue they are worried about.

Understanding that these issues are front of mind for a generation of socially conscious children, Disney has partnered with invention experts, Little Inventors, to inspire them to share ideas that could help change the world. Harnessing the qualities of the Disney Princess characters, from Ariel’s curiosity to Merida’s bravery, children are being encouraged to use their incredible imaginations to come up with invention ideas with no limits – they can share these ideas at www.littleinventors.org/disneyprincess. The girl or boy behind the best invention submitted will receive a one-of-a-kind piece of artwork of themselves brought to life by Walt Disney Animation Studios legendary animator, Mark Henn, who animated Ariel, Jasmine, Tiana, Mulan, and Belle.

The research also revealed that 77 per cent of children aged five agreed that they have the power to change the world. However, this belief diminishes with age, with only 53 per cent of children aged 13 believing this to be true. In addition, 40 per cent of all children feel that adults don’t listen to their ideas enough.

In answer to where children find their information about issues facing the world today, school is named the number one source (49 per cent), followed by their parents (42 per cent), then online channels such as YouTube (27 per cent).

 Marianthi O’Dwyer, Vice President at The Walt Disney Company, says: “Disney Princesses have inspired generations of children to dream big and believe in themselves. From the free-spirited and determined Jasmine, to the adventurous Rapunzel, the Princess stories show time and time again how incredibly resilient they are, overcoming obstacles with courage and changing their world in their own special way! We believe it’s important to inspire young people to have the courage to right wrongs and use their wonderful imaginations to make the world a better place and we hope to see as many children as possible get inventing and take part in this inspiring Little Inventors campaign.”

Katherine Mengardon, Chief Educator and Head of Operations at Little Inventors, says: “Children need to know that what they think and what they do can have the power to make a difference. It is these sparks of light that unlock potential, that sharpen determination and build confidence. It’s great to see Disney using the power of its Princesses to nurture, encourage and celebrate creativity and inventiveness in this way. Children have such a wonderful way of seeing the world without the constraints that creep in with age and experience and I can’t wait to see what incredible ideas they will come up with as part of this challenge.”

Amali de Alwis, CEO of Code First: Girls and judge of the Dream Big Princess Competition, says: “It’s so powerful to hear children say that they want to make the world better and that they also feel empowered to do so. Through my work I get to see how with a little support and encouragement we can support girls to do incredible things. Especially with children becoming socially conscious at such a young age, it’s vital that young children feel that they have the tools and a platform to be creative, and I’m excited to see this campaign encourage and support children to realise their great ideas.”

TOP 10 THINGS THAT CHILDREN MOST WANT TO CHANGE IN THE WORLD:

1. Being kinder to others
2. People not having enough food to eat
3. People not having any money
4. Protecting animals and their habitats
5. Making sure everyone has a home
6. Cleaning plastic from the oceans
7. Wars around the world
8. Boys and girls being treated the same
9. Cleaning up litter
10. People not having access to clean water

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Getty Images partnered with Dove and Girlgaze, to announce Project #ShowUs. With over 5,000 images, Project #ShowUs is the world’s largest stock photo library created by women and non-binary individuals to shatter beauty stereotypes and is available now for the media and advertising industries to view, license and use in their next project or campaign. The ambition? To come together and put an end to the narrow definition of beauty consistently portrayed around the world, setting a new standard for the authentic, diverse and inclusive representation of women across the world.

70% of women say they still don’t feel represented in the images they see every day. Many of us know the mantra “You can’t be what you can’t see”, yet despite this, and decades of work by Dove, Getty Images and Girlgaze to liberate women from limiting stereotypes, many images continue to impose unrealistic beauty standards that present a narrow view of who women are, what they should look like, and what they can achieve. Every day, women’s lives are affected by these limitations, exclusions and stereotypes. It affects their health, relationships and the opportunities they are given.

Project #ShowUs

– A year in the making, the library features more than 5,000 photographs

– Every image shot by 116 Girlgaze photographers; representing a diverse global community of women, non-binary and female-identifying photographers

– Featuring individuals from 39 countries and counting; each image created by women and non-binary photographers who understand the beauty landscape of that country for a more authentic, hyper-local and inclusive representation of beauty

– For the first time on Getty Images, every individual of the 179 photographed has personally defined their own search descriptions and tags for their images, allowing them to define their beauty in their own language, on their own terms, ensuring they feel realistically represented

Dr Rebecca Swift, Creative Insights Director at Getty Images, comments: “Getty Images is a passionate champion for the realistic representation of all through imagery, and through this partnership is proud to be leading the visual industry to change the way women’s beauty is represented in media and advertising. Whilst we’ve seen a positive shift in the popularity of photography that realistically represents women, there’s a lot more to be done. Project #ShowUs will break visual clichés on an unprecedented scale, and we invite all media and advertisers to join the movement.”

Sophie Galvani, Global Vice President at Dove, says: “Dove understands the impact unrealistic images of beauty can have on a women’s body confidence and their subsequent ability to reach their full potential. For over 60 years, we have believed in liberating women from narrow beauty ideals and have showcased beauty diversity in our advertising. However, this is not enough, and we cannot make the systemic change we need alone. Hence Project #ShowUs – we have spent over a year creating the world’s largest image bank of over 5000 beauty images breaking beauty stereotypes, and we are now inviting media and advertisers to license the images and join us to take real tangible action. The images have been created and self-tagged by women themselves and as well as asking media and advertisers to licence them for their upcoming projects, we are also offering women around the world the opportunity to become part of the change and add their images to the library.”

Professor Phillippa Diedrichs, body image expert at the Centre for Appearance Research at the University of the West of England, comments: “On a daily basis, women and girls face a relentless stream of media images displaying narrow, unrealistic, and outdated portrayals of beauty and what it means to be a woman. Several decades of scientific research shows that exposure to these images has a negative impact on women’s and girls’ body confidence and beliefs about what they are capable of. Further, when women and girls experience body dissatisfaction, they experience negative consequences across key areas of their lives, including their health and well-being, their relationships, and their aspirations in education and work settings. On the other hand, displaying diverse and realistic portrayals of women’s bodies, like the images in Project #ShowUs, leads to improved body confidence.”

Amanda de Cadenet, Founder and CEO at Girlgaze, comments: “Girlgaze was born out of a need to center the female perspective and secure paid jobs for women and non-binary creatives. Project #ShowUs is a game changing initiative, as we know when there’s more diversity behind the lens, there is more diversity in front of it. Generated through our jobs platform; the Girlgaze Network, by our global community of female-identifying and non-binary photographers, we are proud to have hired over 300 creatives to create images that truthfully depict female beauty—and in doing so, are also one step closer to closing the gender gap and centering inclusive beauty.”

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