MICHAEL KORS TAPS HIS OWN EMPLOYEES FOR NEW ‘WATCH HUNGER STOP’ CAMPAIGN

Michael Kors has unveiled the Watch Hunger Stop 2020 campaign, entitled “Food Is Love – Share Your Heart,” fronted this season by a diverse collective of the brand’s own employees.

Leaning into the renewed sense of connection and spirit of community inspired by the global pandemic, Kors looked closer to home to cast the talent for his latest Watch Hunger Stop campaign, the brand’s long-running philanthropic initiative in partnership with the United Nations World Food Program (WFP). Renowned for starring a long list of celebrity ambassadors including Kate Hudson, Halle Berry, and Lupita Nyong’o, this year’s campaign instead focuses on Michael Kors employees from across all levels of the organization, individuals who volunteered to further support the cause by stepping in front of the camera.

The resulting imagery, shot by Menelik Puryear (who has shot many MR covers) against brilliantly colored backgrounds and accented with still photos of fruit and vegetables, is an exuberant, heartfelt expression of collaboration and commitment by Team Kors. The staffers are pictured wearing the special-edition Watch Hunger Stop 2020 designs: a white, 100 percent organic cotton “Love” T-shirt, $40; and a blue denim tote, $58, made with 25 percent Repreve recycled polyester. Both are adorned with a specially designed red love heart patch. All profits from the sale of the tee and tote go to WFP.

“The idea behind Watch Hunger Stop has always been to connect communities—to share and focus our resources, our voices and our attention to solve the problem of hunger,” said Kors. “Now, in the face of this global pandemic, we see just how interconnected we all are, and this reinforced my belief that we all want to do good and make a difference in the world. Casting and photographing our employees for this campaign was very special. People talked about their pride in working on Watch Hunger Stop over the years, and their eagerness to help those in need.”

Engagement is crucial in the march toward Zero Hunger, and this year’s Watch Hunger Stop campaign includes innovative and inviting social media initiatives.  A special Instagram camera effect (also known as a “filter”) called “Share Your Heart,” allows each user to join the community and spread the love. Each post using the “Share Your Heart” filter triggers a donation of 50 meals to WFP. The filter can be found on the @michaelkors Instagram profile in the filters tab. The brand also continues to encourage people to “Wear It and Share It”. Each selfie, video or “Reels” post to a public Instagram account with the “Love” t-shirt or tote and the hashtag #WatchHungerStop, will result in a donation of 50 meals to WFP.

Now in its eighth year, Michael Kors’ Watch Hunger Stop campaign is focused specifically on helping WFP provide much-needed school meals to children in food-insecure regions of the world. It’s exciting to announce that this year, Watch Hunger Stop reached the major milestone of delivering 20 million school meals through WFP’s school meals program—an achievement made possible by the extraordinary support and generosity of friends all over the world. The brand looks forward with pride and optimism to achieving WFP’s goal of Zero Hunger.