At a special event to celebrate Vodafone achieving its target of providing connectivity to a million people in need, TV presenter and Vodafone everyone.connected ambassador Emma Willis joined celebrity photographer Rankin and Vodafone top brass to help raise awareness of the digital divide.
Vodafone partnered with world-renowned photographer Rankin to commission a series of images that depict the many faces of digital exclusion in the UK.
Enlarged versions of these ‘Faces of Disconnection’ photos were displayed at the London-based event, hosted by Emma Willis. There were speeches from Ahmed Essam, Vodafone’s UK CEO; Nicki Lyons, Vodafone’s UK Director of Corporate Affairs & Sustainability; and Helen Milner, Group CEO of Good Things Foundation.
Celebrity guests included Owen Warner and Seann Walsh, freshly released from the ‘I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here’ jungle, whose experience had given them a brief taste of what living without connectivity might be like.
Vodafone and Rankin join forces to raise awareness of the Digital Divide
Series of royalty-free images highlights the “invisible” issue affecting millions in the UK.
Actor Tamzin Outhwaite told Vodafone UK News: “I often wonder what would happen if I didn’t have my phone, or internet – they’re so important”, while Emma Willis reflected that so many of us take connectivity “for granted”.
And Emma Robertston, from Digital Awareness UK, pointed out that the digital divide wasn’t just to do with affordability and lack of access to devices, it was also about not having the digital skills to make the most of connectivity in a digital age in which so much of our lives is online.
'We've provided connectivity to 1 million people in need - now we want to reach 4 million'
As Vodafone reaches its goal to provide connectivity to one million digitally excluded people by the end of 2022, Vodafone’s UK Chief Corporate Affairs & Sustainability Officer explains why the campaign is so important and how the company plans to extend it.
At the event Vodafone also announced its commitment to extend the everyone.connected campaign and help a total of four million people cross the digital divide by 2025.
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