In honour of Pride in London, London-based independent creative agency Mr. President is celebrating four icons of the LGBT community. The “Patrons of Pride” campaign honours Ellen DeGeneres, George Michael, Nicola Adams, and Laverne Cox, as modern icons of tolerance, love, and acceptance, featuring each in a bold illustration in the style of stained glass windows.
The Patrons of Pride illustrations are affixed to the agency’s windows on the corner of Soho Square, one of the official locations of Pride in London on Saturday, 8 July. Accompanying the modern icon portraits is a message from Mr. President wishing Pride-goers well.
On the evening of Friday the 7th of July at 6:30pm, Mr. President’s own creative Sarah Hardcastle and the incredible Some Voices choir group sang festive Songs of Pride, including “You’ve Got The Love” from Florence & The Machine/Candi Statton and “Moving On Up” from Primal Scream.
Claire Hynes, Co-founder and Managing Partner at Mr. President, stated, “Mr. President is an agency that believes in diversity in all forms, and we constantly strive to make sure that our team and work reflect that. Patrons of Pride beautifully celebrates diversity with modern LGBT icons that inspire us promoting love, tolerance and acceptance, values that we hold true.”
Located on Soho Square, one of the locations of official activities for Pride in London, Mr. President uses its windows to celebrate new work and timely events. Recent window displays have included Mr. President’s “Rule the World” campaign for fine jewelry brand Annoushka and VOWSS, the first showcase of film work from female creatives in film and advertising. Previously, Mr. President celebrated Pride in London with an eye-catching exhibition of work from award-winning New York photographer, Leland Bobbe, that featured Presidents of the world dressed in some of Gay Pride’s boldest costumes.
Mr President tolf us of their choices:
“Mr. President celebrates diversity in all of its forms. We don’t care about gender or sexuality, we think you’re awesome. To help join in the celebrations of people being able to be themselves without question or judgement, we wanted to showcase 4 incredible people from the LGBT community (one from each) that we think are inspiring. With so many people we wanted to include, but only space for a few, here are the people that Mr. President chose as their #PatronsOfPride – people who inspired tolerance, love and acceptance.
- Ellen DeGeneres – Ellen is a modern icon, in every sense of the word. One article we read stated, “Every lesbian I’ve loved has cited Ellen as her coming-out impetus,” and this is why we chose her as one of our patrons of pride. Her coming out in the 90s inspired a generation, and her continued work towards making the world a better, more loving place is quite frankly amazing. We think she’s a goddess.
- George Michael – An incredible talent and an incredible charitable giver. His generous spirit would not be cowed. We chose him as an act of defiance against those who persecuted him because of his sexuality, and in celebration of his amazing achievements during his too-short lifetime.
- Nicola Adams – An incredible sportswoman and incredible person. Her coming out as proudly and confidently bisexual means so much to so many people who probably haven’t felt like they have a voice, especially those from a BAME background. She has fought against prejudice and risen to dizzying heights. We’re proud to call her one of our own.
- Laverne Cox – What an incredible woman, where do we start? Not only is she a hugely talented actress (actor, not sure if people say actress anymore), but she has done incredible things for the trans community, raising their visibility and fighting bigotry every step of the way. She has risen above all of the challenges she’s faced and is not stopping for anyone or anything.”
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