Disney Star has 700 spoken and 22 major regional languages. However, for over 125 million LGBTQIA+ individuals, there were no known words of respect—only words of disrespect were prevalent.
Content often perpetuates these negative terms. Disney Star aimed to introduce India to respectful words for the community, integrating them into everyday vocabulary.
Disney Star curated “Words of Pride,” a glossary of respectful terms for addressing India’s LGBTQIA+ community.
An accessible website with pronunciations and contextual examples was created to make Indian languages more inclusive.
This effort involved 150 linguists, experts, queer groups, and allies who invested 30 months of research and 7000 hours of collaboration. They delved into historical and contemporary texts, uncovering over 246 respectful words in 7 regional languages.
The campaign demonstrated that Indian languages have always been inclusive, but people were unaware of the respectful terms. It was time to unlearn words of hate and learn “Words of Pride.”
Audiences viewed over 560 million minutes of WOP-inspired content. The initiative sparked conversations with cultural influencers like authors, lyricists, and advertisers at notable platforms such as the Jaipur LitFest and the Advertising Standards Council of India.
The campaign achieved 92% positive sentiment, garnered over 94.5 million video views, and generated over 285,000 engagements.
