Toyota Takes a Stand Against Bullying

On October 19, millions of people around the world will wear purple in honor of Spirit Day, an annual effort to show support for young members of the LGBT community and take a stand against bullying of any kind. The genesis for the program began in 2010, when a high-school student named Brittany McMillan wanted to remember LGBT peers who had taken their own lives in response to bullying. The campaign grew quickly in the following years and is now backed by GLAAD—the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation—and, for the first time, Toyota Financial Services (TFS).

The company joins the ranks of many groups that are doing their part for Spirit Day, including the New York Stock Exchange, MTV, the NBA and WNBA, AT&T, Hewlett-Packard, Omnicom, Delta Airlines, Warner Brothers, Facebook and McGraw-Hill. Of course, only TFS has partnered with GLAAD to offer a free “Go Purple for #Spirit Day” app. It delivers anti-bullying resources, a special photo filter that adds a touch of purple to digital pictures, and a feature that allows for quick uploading of the images via Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

“Everyone at Toyota Financial Services, and across the Toyota family, is proud and excited to be a part of this year’s Spirit Day,” said Ann Bybee, TFS vice president, corporate strategy, communications & community relations. “Going purple for the day is a small but powerful way we can all show our support for those who have been bullied or who fear being bullied. It is so important to raise awareness that bullying isn’t acceptable. At Toyota, we have always embraced a guiding principle of ‘respect for people,’ which has made us the company we are today. And it is a principle that includes not only our employees and customers, but everyone, without exception.”

For more information, please visit www.GLAAD.org/SpiritDay.