Unbox Me leveraged the well-known social media phenomenon of unboxing videos. But instead of having influencers unbox gadgets, we had them unbox the childhood treasure boxes of transgender adults, that had been kept from the world.

Our zero-cost influencer strategy leveraged the following of popular and respected Indian influencers on Instagram and Twitter to start a conversation.

Now, we’re bringing the boxes directly to school communities across India, where respected teachers are hosting a series of interactive workshops that are educating parents about the feelings and experiences of transgender children firsthand.

Imagine not being welcome in your own home, being threatened and even beaten because of how you identify. It’s what most transgender children in India experience. 70% of them end up on the streets before the age of 15, and without money or education often have to rely on sex work. As a result, transgender people have a 34 times greater risk of acquiring HIV than other adults.

UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Program on HIV, is committed to breaking down the gender stigma and discrimination that are creating this heartbreaking situation.

What’s needed is a shift in perception of transgender people within Indian society, especially among parents of young children. Their common belief is that gender is a choice, while in reality children naturally identify with gender as early as 2 years old and promptly start hiding their true identity from disapproving eyes of family and caregivers.

Children often love to collect their most precious possessions in a little treasure box. These objects reveal what they like, who they are and what they dream of. Trans children are no different. But for them, their box becomes a place to hide their identity, filled with items that don’t fit the gender norm society expects them to conform to.

Based on the stories of dozens of transgender men and women, we carefully and respectfully recreated their childhood treasure boxes and turned them into tools to open the conversation around children’s gender identity.

On social media, influential Indian personalities unboxed these childhood treasure boxes for the world to see, urging everyone to provide their children with a loving home where they can develop into the person they really are. In school communities, the boxes are being used as educational tools to help parents, teachers and children openly discuss gender identity.

Changing perception of a topic that many people have closed themselves off from, needed a breakthrough approach.

While most people find it hard to empathize with adults on the fringes of society, they can definitely empathize with children who feel unseen and ashamed of themselves while growing up. These boxes offer a heartfelt glimpse into the secret childhood of a transgender person. They’re the perfect emotional storytelling device.

Then, by having these stories revealed by some of the most influential and trusted personalities in society, we were able to get both people and press to pay attention.

To have an even greater impact, we also needed to find a way to engage more directly with parents of young children, and turn conversation into education. This led us to partner with school groups, so we could set up a scalable program and tap into a large audience of parents and teachers.

Indian influencers such as creator Kusha Kapila (2.4MM Instagram followers), director Zoya Akhtar (700K Instagram followers) and TV reporter Barkha Dutt (7.2MM Twitter followers) started posting their unboxing videos in the week leading up to the campaign’s focal point, International Transgender Day of Visibility, on March 31st, 2022.

This day, dedicated to celebrating transgender people and raising awareness of discrimination faced by transgender people worldwide, offered the perfect momentum to amplify our message.

A 2-minute film showcasing our unboxing efforts was shared with the world through the official UNAIDS social media accounts and those of our participating influencers.

Multiple boxes, along with personal letters from the transgender adults the boxes belonged to, were sent to journalists, leading to a significant PR response.

One week later, our gender sensitization program, using the boxes to educate parents, teachers and children on gender identity, started rolling out in the first school group.

Without any media spent, Unbox Me raised awareness and sparked conversation between millions of Indians. Important influencers, from renowned actors to notable educational figures and popular digital content creators, helped spread our message, reaching an audience of 13.9 million.

Massive PR response, including feature articles in The Times of India (world’s best-selling English-language daily), The Hindustan Times (one of the largest newspapers in India) and Vogue, resulted in over 44 million impressions.

And that’s just the first step. Unbox Me has been included in a gender sensitization program that’s rolling out across Indian school communities, already in use in 57 schools of the Millenium School Group.

These small but meaningful boxes are bringing visibility to the plight of transgender children, men and women, everywhere. They’re changing perception and are helping to create more homes where children have the loving support to develop into their happiest, healthiest and most accomplished selves.

‘Transgender’ has been an integral part of Indian history and Indian mythology. But to this day, transgender people–or Hijras, as they’re often called–are struggling to find acceptance in Indian society, where they’re seen as freaks, beggars and sex workers. An image that’s reinforced in popular media, leading to the dehumanization of the trans community, thereby making change hard to come by.

We decided to shift our focus to where the problem really starts, in Indian homes of young transgender children. And we learned that–just like all Indian children–transgender children like to collect their most precious items in a little box. Items that say a lot about who they really are or want to be, from jewelry and dolls to a cricket ball or a razor. The only difference is that trans children are keeping their box–and with it their true identity–hidden away, ashamed and afraid of their parents’ disapproving reactions.