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BTS 'Love Myself' campaign collects a whopping $3.5M in donations: UNICEF report

The BTS 'Love Myself' campaign is a sponsorship project aimed at the protection of young people so that they can live without the fear of violence

When the seven boys of BTS tried expanding their music into something deeper, their growth as musicians was unmatched. BTS began just like any other Korean boy band but with their growth as people, they grew in their mindsets. RM (Namjoon) has mentioned how he knows and takes responsibility for his past actions as they were done by him. To be accountable for themselves, BTS has gone on to not only create songs to change mindsets but also donated to charitable causes. They have also banded together as ambassadors for messages that they want passed on to fans devoted to them as well as to the rest of the world.

BTS members launched the 'Love Myself' campaign in November of 2017 in partnership with UNICEF. The campaign is an anti-violence campaign that was launched by the septet in partnership with the Korean and Japanese committees for UNICEF. The idea of the campaign was introduced by the boys as a sponsorship project to the #ENDviolence campaign. Both projects are aimed at the protection of young people so that they can live without the fear of violence.

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BTS' 'Love Myself' Campaign

In 2017, BTS promoted the campaign with the hashtag, #BTSLoveMyself, asking fans and supporters to post self-loving photos using the hashtag to different social media platforms. With 'Love Myself', BTS became the first group from South Korea to raise funds as part of a social fund for global campaigns. The campaign itself is the first Korea-based campaign to be expanded globally.

What initially was a two-year endeavour had now been renewed and the campaign is in its third year in 2021 and has already recorded amazing results. Since its inception in 2017, the campaign has generated 5 million tweets and over 50 million engagements as of October 2021, while also collecting a huge sum of 4.2 billion won ($3.5 million approximately) as of October 6, 2021.

BTS continues to raise awareness

In a status report that UNICEF, Korea posted on October 6, the committee announced the success of BTS' Love Myself campaign. UNICEF's 'World Children Status Report' stated that the campaign has been a successful one as it was globally recognized for its influence in spreading awareness and engagement with donors for the first time.

The 'World Children's Status Report' from UNICEF is one of the worlds most important reports which tries to investigate and report on the condition of children around the world. The report contains information about various issues, especially the critical ones, faced by children all over the world at present. Given BTS' recent actions and their speeches at the 2021 United Nations General Assembly regarding the mental health of youth around the world, the report also focuses on the state of children's mental health in the time of Covid-19.

BTS' global initiative 

With BTS is at the center of the project, the report pays special attention to the members' message of "self-love" that is being relayed to future generations around the world. When they initially discussed the campaign, BTS said, "We started 'Love Myself' to reach young people and improve their lives and rights. I hope many people will feel how the love they receive from others can be the power to love themselves.”

The secretary-general of UNICEF, Korea, Mr. Lee Kicheol says that in present times, the messages led by BTS about self-love has made the rift between the world become smaller as their fans around the world keep spreading this message with each other while the whole world is experiencing difficulties due to Covid-19.