MUMBAI: Diwali, is inarguably one of the most awaited occasion for kids across India. The entire country is in the festive mood, children on their holidays and all geared up to revel in the celebrations. In all these festivities, one usually tends to overlook how our celebrations affect the animals around us. Animals have an acute sense of hearing and smell, the features that are a part of their survival mechanism. But the same attributes cause them acute disturbance and discomfort with the loud noise of crackers and the left over gunpowder. With an aim to bring awareness about the same and initiate a new tradition of celebrating noiseless and clean Diwali, Sony YAY! announced the 3rd edition of their landmark campaign – Pawsome Diwali. And who better than kids’ favorite cats i.e. Honey and Bunny from Sony YAY! to drive this message forward.
As a part of the entire drive, Honey and Bunny with their young fans donated ear mufflers to animal shelters and NGOs working towards animal welfare, to shield animals against the noise of fire-crackers. They also got together with NGOs like Jeev Basera, Stray Relief and Animal Welfare, India and Almighty Animal Care Trust to organize workshops across various key cities like Lucknow, Delhi and Chennai respectively to educate young minds about the importance of a noise-free Diwali.
Not only this, social media celebrities also joined hands with YAY! to address all age groups and amplified the message through engaging videos and explanatory posts. Through their digital outreach platforms, Sony YAY! also shared informative posts, contests and messages featuring Honey & Bunny requesting their fans to be more considerate to their pets and animal friends.
The overarching thought was to instil a sense of empathy amongst the young fans so that they can celebrate Diwali in a pawsome way for years to come and bring happiness not only to their friends and family but also to animals.
Sony Pictures Networks India, Kids’ Genre! Business Head Leena Lele Dutta said,"Diwali is a festival of lights and not noise. With the first two years, we encouraged and introduced kids to the message of celebrating noise and pollution free Diwali. With the third edition the call for action evolves to inspire kids to make ‘cracker-free Diwali’ a habit. We want our next generation to understand the repercussions of bursting crackers and its adverse effects on pets, animals and even the environment. With Honey and Bunny being kid’s two favourite toon characters, our hope is that their message will positively translate in to a concrete change on these young and bright minds.”
Rakhi Kishore, President- Jeev Basera (SPCA Lucknow), “In my opinion it's a great initiative by Sony YAY! that they are recognizing animal distress as a real problem. People should not forget that animals are an important and integral part of the ecosystem and they need to be loved and nurtured and cared for. Honey Bunny in their adorable form and character are spreading the beautiful message of having a safe and cracker-free (noise free) Diwali & Jeev Basera loved to be a part of this initiative of Sony YAY!.”
Sai Vignesh, founder and president of Almighty Animal Care Trust, Chennai, “I support the initiative of Sony YAY! to raise awareness among kids about celebrating Diwali by not bursting crackers. Crackers are harmful to our health, environment and animals around us.”
Vasanthi Kumar; Co- Founder & Managing Trustee, STRAW (Stray Relief and Animal Welfare) Delhi, “My experience with Sony YAY! has been Fantastic. Sony YAY! is a wonderful fun channel for children to connect with the world of animals & environment. Inspired from the initiative of Pawsome Diwali kids along with our NGO volunteers took a pledge on not bursting crackers this Diwali.”
