Mr. Bean Speechless At The Thought Of A World Without Poverty

A participant in Red Nose Day in the UK and a regular on Comic Relief alongside One Direction and David and Victoria Beckham, a charitable Rowan Atkinson has also used his character, Mr. Bean, to increase awareness of the issue of poverty throughout the world.

The comedy character Mr. Bean worked with the United Nations in the 2016 creation of four 30-second videos highlighting the UN’s Global Goals including ending extreme poverty and reducing inequality.

The character was chosen for the task because his unique brand of communication doesn’t rely on any spoken language, making it the best and most effective means to communicate to the people of all the United Nations.

Mr. Bean’s strong online and digital reach was also a factor with over 66 million followers on social media, three million subscribers to the Mr. Bean YouTube channel and more than two billion views.

“Since we started thinking about communicating the new Global Goals,” commented Richard Curtis, “we’ve dreamed about having an alliance with Mr. Bean. The second we approached the Bean Animation team, they were completely keen.”

At the time of the videos, the global poverty rate was 12 percent. Five years later, an estimated 9.2 percent of the world's population live below the international poverty line, as established by the World Bank. The U.N. has a target of zero poverty by 2030.