‘Love Has No Labels’: Viral Video Asks If We Are More Biased Than We Realize?


“Love Has No Labels,” the latest social campaign from the Ad Council, delivers a powerful message in a simple yet dynamic way. The video went viral, racking up nearly 14 million views in its first 48 hours online. Love Has No Labels not only challenges us to see others without bias but to also confront our own inherent biases.

According to the Stanford School of Medicine, an implicit bias is “a positive or negative mental attitude towards a person, thing, or group that a person holds at an unconscious level.” Eighty-five percent of Americans believe they are unprejudiced, but many people make snap judgments, which is explained in the description for the Love Has No Labels video on YouTube.

“While the vast majority of Americans consider themselves unprejudiced, many of us unintentionally make snap judgments about people based on what we see — whether it’s race, age, gender, religion, sexuality, or disability.”

On the Love Has No Labels website, you can find a quick quiz to test hidden biases you may have, tips on what to do if you experience bias in various settings, and stories of people who have experienced bias. On the home page, the following statement gives a short explanation of why people report feeling discrimination.

“Most Americans agree that people should be treated respectfully and fairly. Yet many people in the United States still report feeling discriminated against. The reason might be that we’re actually discriminating unintentionally — we do 98 [percent] of our thinking in our subconscious mind. And that’s where we collect and store implicit biases.”

The Love Has No Labels website’s message is that awareness is the key to making social change. In order for people to be treated fairly, we need to become aware of our inherent biases and eliminate them. The president and CEO of the Ad Council, Lisa Sherman, who wrote a post for the Huffington Post, discusses the difficulty and challenge of overcoming discrimination.

“No matter what our declared beliefs, bias lives in all of us. The disparities that plague our nation are perpetuated, even by those of us who believe in equality for all… First, each of us has a responsibility to recognize and to question our own tendencies, our own beliefs. To raise awareness of this oftentimes hidden problem, the Ad Council is launching the ‘Love Has No Labels’ campaign.”

Have you seen the Love Has No Labels campaign? What do you think of the Love Has No Labels video?

[Image via YouTube]

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