The activist noted the moral good of supporting women’s rights in language that resonates with advertisers
Malala Yousafzai received numerous accolades since she attracted the world’s attention for facing down the Taliban’s draconian prohibition against women’s education in her Pakistani town. The Nobel Peace Prize winner can now add another acknowledgment to her list: the 2022 Cannes LionHeart.
The Cannes Lions honor is given to a person who has used their position to make “a significant and positive difference to the world around us,” the awards committee said. The LionHeart has previously been awarded to Bono, Al Gore, Toms Shoes founder Blake Mycoskie, British director Richard Curtis, former Unilever CEO Paul Polman and former UN Women executive director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.
Yousafzai’s story is well-known, but it’s worth retelling. As a 15-year-old helping her father run a chain of regional schools, she survived an Oct. 9, 2012 assassination attempt by the Taliban in Pakistan. She was specifically targeted for her outspoken support for women’s rights and education. She became the world’s youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2014. Yousafzai and her father, Ziauddin, co-founded the Malala Fund, a nonprofit dedicated to giving every girl an opportunity to achieve the future she chooses, that same year.
“Malala’s strength and courage is an inspiration,” said Philip Thomas, chairman of the Cannes Lions, in a statement. “Her creative leadership of Malala Fund has successfully established a charity that is creating positive change for many across the globe.
“The LionHeart is awarded to those that are making a genuine difference to the world, and to whom we offer the platform of Cannes Lions to appeal to the world’s communicators to help their cause,” he added. “We are humbled to be presenting her with this award in June, and we know that the creative community will respond with their customary generosity and creativity.”
The award will be presented to Yousafzai following the Cannes LionHeart seminar in the Lumiere Theatre at 3 p.m. on June 23. She will accept the LionHeart Award that evening at the Awards Show. The festival itself runs from June 20-24.
Promoting women’s rights and girls’ education comes as agencies struggle to find ways to address issues of sexual harassment and the battles over abortion rights. By handing the LionHeart to Yousafzai, the ad industry hopes to align itself with the overarching cause of women’s rights—even if the agency world still has a ways to go in fully embracing them.
In her remarks about receiving the industry’s honor, Yousafzai sought to position advancing women’s rights in language marketers and agencies could understand: Doing good is also good for business.
“Girls have the power to boost economies, create jobs, make communities safer and drive change,” Yousafzai said in a statement. “But to see the future educated girls can create will require individuals, leaders and companies across every sector to take action. I am honored to accept this year’s LionHeart Award and look forward to connecting with the creatives at Cannes Lions around how companies can lend their platforms, expertise and resources to accelerate progress for young women, girls and our world.”
