Press release - #HappyVoting video release aims to get young people voting in May!

The Happy Voting Video will today (28th March) be released online at 12.00 PM on www.happyvoting.eu

Through pop-culture, the video aims to raise voter awareness and get young people excited and involved in the European Elections in May by using their two favourite channels: entertainment and the internet.

Supported by the League of Young Voters and produced by a professional production studio, the campaign is based on Pharrell William’s ‘Happy Formula’, which incorporates a selection of non-actors who separately dance to the catchy billboard song. The European remake includes scenes filmed in over fifty diverse locations across Brussels, including the European Parliament. It features sixty actors, and politicians from across the political spectrum and received support from Pharrell Williams’ Production Company I AM OTHER.

Endorsed by hundreds of organisations, the video will also be screened during the European Youth Event (9-11 May) in Strasbourg, with over five thousand young participants expected to attend. The campaign behind the Happy Voting video will promote it to a pan-European audience with the aim of reaching as many viewers as possible before the elections in May.

The video will be shared through a variety of channels, including social media sites, blogs, websites and media outlets. The campaign does not use advertisement tools and instead relies on volunteers to share the Happy Voting video using the hashtag #HappyVoting.

In past European elections, a general lack of information on the elections and the issues at stake meant that around 70% of the European Union’s young people did not vote. As a consequence, the focus on young people’s needs and interests was alarmingly low. Young people of the EU are barely represented in the European Parliament and issues concerning them are not debated, yet the current crisis and the austerity measures hit young people particularly hard.

[ENDS]

Note to the editor:

If you would like to interview Members of the European Parliament and volunteers who danced in the video, we would be happy to assist you with your media inquiries and interview requests.

For public and private broadcasters wishing to cover the campaign, we have more than 100 HD quality rushes, including behind the scenes audio-visual material and interviews with parliamentarians, volunteers, a nudist, youths and the leading candidate of the European Greens, Ska Keller.

About the European Youth Forum

The European Youth Forum is the platform of youth organisations in Europe. Independent, democratic, youth-led, it represents 99 National Youth Councils and international youth organisations from across the continent. The Forum works to empower young people to participate actively in society to improve their own lives, by representing and advocating their needs and interests and those of their organisations towards the European Union, the Council of Europe and the United Nations. For more information, visit www.youthforum.org

About the League of Young Voters:

The League of Young Voters (www.youngvoters.eu) is a politically neutral initiative that aims to amplify young people’s concerns and expectations in the run-up to European elections. It is a movement that brings together all young people who want to choose what decisions Europe and its politicians will make on issues that concern them.