One Love Foundation Marks Start of “Teen Dating Violence Month” with Digital Campaign Showcasing Healthy vs. Unhealthy Relationships; NASDAQ Bell Ring

“#ThatsNotLove” Digital Campaign Helps Teens Identify Unhealthy Behavior, Empower Action 

One Love Founder Sharon Love to Ring NASDAQ Opening Bell to Honor Her Efforts to Raise Awareness to End Relationship Violence Epidemic That Affects One in Three Women

For Immediate Release – New York, NY, Friday, January 29, 2016 – One Love co-founder Sharon Love will ring the opening bell on Nasdaq today to help mark the start of National Teen Dating Violence Month this February, and to simultaneously launch the second phase of One Love’s year-long digital campaign to educate, empower and activate young people in a movement to end relationship violence.

Regarding Nasdaq’s recognition, One Love Foundation in Honor of Yeardley Love co-founder Sharon Love said; “I am so grateful to Nasdaq for recognizing the importance of our efforts to halt an epidemic that affects one in three women and one in four men in our country, and am honored to ring the bell opening trading today.”

This new phase of the #ThatsNotLove campaign introduces the “Couplets” – a series of digital shorts so named for the graphically appealing animated pairs who use humor to demonstrate the difference between a good relationship and an unhealthy one. Funny and teen-accessible, the couplets tackle 8 common warning signs (Intensity, Obsession, Isolation, Disrespect, Blame, Control, Anger and Put-downs) with one objective: to help young people more readily recognize the warning signs of an unhealthy or dangerous relationship and stand up to them before they escalate. The campaign will launch on Facebook and will be supported on social media by Team One Love campus leaders across the nation.

Katie Hood, CEO of One Love commented, “Our research – and sadly, Yeardley’s own experience – tell us that people in abusive relationships don’t recognize as unhealthy some of the behaviors early on that are precursors to abuse. Helping young people understand these behaviors and see them as wrong is a critical first step in stigmatizing them and making it easier for everyone to speak up and help themselves, their friends and their loved ones to act before it’s too late.”

The launch of the “Couplets” and today’s Nasdaq bell ringing coincide with a period of tremendous growth for One Love, which has partnered with a broad range of organizations from the Baltimore Ravens and the Jacksonville Jaguars to the Atlantic Coast Conference and US Lacrosse. In less than a year, One Love has brought its programming – whether the Escalation workshop, the #ThatsNotLove campaign, or the Yards for Yeardley community event – to nearly 400 colleges and 150 high schools throughout the United States. Team One Love clubs are developing on campuses across the nation, proving that this generation is ready to lead the social movement to end relationship violence once and for all.

The “Couplets” follows the successful launch of the first #ThatsNotLove public service announcement, “Because I Love You” which dramatically underscores how a simple phrase can take on a different meaning in an unhealthy relationship, escalating from a statement of care to one of control. The digital campaigns echo themes presented in Escalation, One Love’s research-based, emotionally engaging 90-minute film and workshop that the organization is bringing, free of charge, to college campuses across the country to educate young people about the warning signs of relationship violence. 

ABOUT THE ONE LOVE FOUNDATION

The One Love Foundation in honor of Yeardley Love was created in 2010 to honor the memory of Yeardley Love, a UVA senior who was beaten to death by her ex-boyfriend just weeks before graduation. After her death, Yeardley’s family and friends were surprised to learn the statistics – that 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men in this country will be in a violent relationship in his or her lifetime and that young women ages 16-24 are at 3x greater risk. Today, One Love’s ambitious goal is to end relationship violence by educating, empowering and activating young people in a movement for social change. To achieve this, One Love develops creative technology-based tools and resources that meet young people where they are and inspire them to action. For more information, please visit www.joinonelove.org

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