BITE Insight

Last month saw the world celebrate Pride, which for many years has shone a rainbow-hued light onto the diverse reality of our world. Indeed, today 65% of families are non-traditional as revealed by the Office of National Statistics and many of these are same-sex couples.

To reflect the evolution of the family model, Volvo worked with Grey London to create Family Icons, a campaign for their new estate car the V60 that recognises and celebrates families that don’t fit into the traditional model of mum, dad and 2.4 children.

The ad encourages individual’s to tell their stories, talking through criticism they faced, their own childhoods and the relationships they’re in today. We see an older mum talking about the ageism she faces, same sex couples discussing their family make-up and a young man talking about the brilliance of his six siblings.

As part of the campaign Volvo worked with Grey to change the markings in family car parking spaces that have traditionally shown mum, dad and a single pram. They reimagined the images to represent the familial structures within our society, changing the icons to reflect the modern family.

The icons were rolled out as a trial in partnership with Westfield Shopping Centre in Shepherd’s Bush, London over Pride weekend in the city. Though it seems a small change to make, the car park icons allow people to see themselves and their families reflected truthfully in society.