Cartoon Network, Pilot Pen Expand Anti-Bullying Effort

Pilot Corp. of America has signed on to Cartoon Network’s anti-bullying campaign for two years.

As part of the Stop Bullying: Speak Up initiative Cartoon Network and Pilot Pen are distributing 500 bookmaking kits to classrooms and educators nationwide and asking students to write stories about how kindness and understanding stopped bullying before it started.

Over the course of the two-year partnership, Cartoon Network and Pilot Pen will expand the reach of their joint initiative to erase bullying and encourage kids to speak up safely and effectively through various multimedia extensions, including “Stop Bullying: Speak Up” co-branded packages of Pilot’s FriXion erasable pens. The second annual writing challenge will resume in 2020 to continue to empower kids to tell their stories.

The network will pick one story and animate it using Pilot Pen’s FriXion clicker erasable gel ink pens. The 30-second animated vignette will air across Cartoon Network’s television, digital and social properties during the back-to-school season in August and September.

Pilot Pen has been running its own “Erase Bullying for Good" campaign. It will air its own commercial creative on Cartoon Network to align with the campaign in August and September.

“At Pilot, we believe in the power of the written word to inspire and empower people of all ages to express themselves fearlessly, even in the face of bullying,” said Ariann Langsam, VP of consumer marketing, Pilot Corporation of America. “We’re excited to partner with Cartoon Network to expand our ‘Erase Bullying for Good’ campaign and be able to share this message of positivity with young people in their own words.”

Over the next two years, Cartoon Network and Pilot Pen will employ new ways to highlight their effort to encourage kids to speak up safely and effectively. One way will be through co-branded packages of Pilot’s FriXion erasable pens that carry the “Stop Bullying: Speak Up” message.

The second annual writing challenge will resume in 2020 to continue to empower kids to tell their stories.

“Pilot Pen, a company with an ongoing commitment to erase bullying and encourage students to excel, is a perfect partner for this project. We look forward to sparking creativity and dialogue that brings stories of empowerment to the center of this conversation,” said Jennifer Cohen, senior VP of content partnerships, Ignite, WarnerMedia Ad Sales.

Cartoon has been running its anti bullying campaign with 826 National, the largest youth writing network in the U.S. serving under-resourced student age 6 to 18, which developed lessons that will be included in the bookmaking kits being distributed to stores. The lessons integrate Cartoon Network characters and Pilot’s gel ink pens.

“This new collaboration with Pilot Pen is a great complement to Cartoon Network’s Stop Bullying: Speak Up initiative and specifically our partnership with 826 National, which is all about elevating kids voices on kindness, caring and empathy,” said Jill King, senior VP, marketing and partnerships, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim and Boomerang. 

Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.