BJÖRN BORG HIGHLIGHTS LOVERS IN DISTRESS; SPARKS REFUGEE WAVE TO LOVE COMMANDOS
To support the right to marry out of love, Swedish Fashion Brand Björn Borg launched the campaign site Unitethelovers.com in the beginning of April. The site has generated money to support Love Commandos with resources to provide 26 000 hours in shelter for couples on the run from arranged marriages. Due to an urgent need, Björn Borg now doubles the generated support donations and publishes six stories from lovers on the run on the site.
“The need for help has become overwhelming and we are therefore matching the hours generated on our site, to reach 52 000 hours in shelter. We encourage everyone who believes in the right to marry out of love to contribute to Love Commandos”, says Lina Söderqvist, Marketing Director Björn Borg.
Björn Borg has partnered up with the voluntary Indian organisation Love Commandos, offering a refuge; shelter to Indian couples who wish to marry out of love. Help is needed: Love Commandos has during the campaign period experienced a 20% increase in couples pleading for rescue and just last week, a Love Commandos safe house was discovered and set ablaze.
"In every nook and corner of this country there are couples under threat. We are seeing a dramatic increase of refugee couples that is impossible to keep up with. Free love is becoming something to fight for on a massive scale", comments Sanjoy Sachdev, chairman Love Commandos.
In today’s India, arranged marriages are still the ruling tradition. According to UNICEF, as
many as 90% of all marriages in India are arranged. Potential marriage partners are
vetted on the basis of, for instance, their caste, complexion, and horoscope. When choosing love, girls in particular risk facing violence and even death. Faced with a new generation ready to fight for free love the situation is locked on conflict with tradition.
To further highlight the issue and to give a human voice to the situation, Björn Borg today publishes six of the stories of the sheltered couples on unitethelovers.com.
“It is our hope that their stories will fuel the fight for free love in India and around the world”, concludes Lina Söderqvist.
See their stories on the topic WHY WE RUN here: www.unitethelovers.com
Love Commandos is an Indian voluntary organisation that offers a refuge for lovers who want to marry out of love. Founded in 2010, Love Commandos receives an average of 300 calls per day and has to date helped 23 000 couples, offering seven shelters in New Delhi and NCR (National Capital Region) as well as over 200 shelters around the country.
Pernilla Johansson, Global PR Manager, Björn Borg AB
Phone: +46 8 506 655 13
E-mail: pernilla.johansson@bjornborg.com
ABOUT BJÖRN BORG: The Group owns the Björn Borg trademark and its core business is underwear. It also offers sportswear and fragrances as well as footwear, luggage & bags and eyewear through licensees. Björn Borg products are sold in around thirty markets, of which Sweden and the Netherlands are the largest. The Björn Borg Group has operations at every level from branding to consumer sales in its own Björn Borg stores. In total, there are 38 Björn Borg stores, of which 17 are operated in the Group. Total sales of Björn Borg products in 2013 amounted to around SEK 1.5 billion at the consumer level. Group net sales amounted to SEK 499 million in 2013, with 159 employees. The Björn Borg share has been listed on NASDAQ OMX Nordic in Stockholm since 2007.
Tags:
