‘‘Panadol Sahanaabhimani’ launched to mark Happiness Day

25 March 2015 06:35 am

Panadol, the flagship brand of SmithKlineBeecham Pvt. Ltd, (GSK) launched Panadol Sahanaabhimani to celebrate United Nations World Happiness Day.’ 
This effort is aimed at inspiring Sri Lankans to build a happier nation and to mobilize the country towards this unified effort. 
In 2012, The United Nations officially declared March 20th as International Day of Happiness.  Although Sri Lankans are known for their warm smiles and generosity, the 2013 UN sponsored report on World Happiness placed Sri Lanka at 137th position out of 156 countries reviewed. Panadol Sahanaabhimani seeks to reinforce positivity amongst Sri Lankans, helping them defeat pain, to be happy and spread happiness amongst others.  
Open to all Sri Lankans, Panadol Sahanaabhimani, has three key activation pillars. The first outreach is rewarding those stories of extraordinary lives of ordinary citizens who have overcome pain, sought happiness and spread the same in their communities. The second activity is a public pledge to ‘Defeat pain and be Happy’ to encourage all to think positively, be happy and spread happiness despite pains. The final activity is a series of Happiness workshops across the country, to encourage participants to choose positive thinking in difficult times. 
Speaking at the launch, Sunil Mehra, Managing Director of SmithKlineBeecham Pvt. Ltd said, “Through this unique campaign, we seek to discover extraordinary stories of ordinary people who have triumphed over pain to be happy and spread happiness amongst others. We invite all Sri Lankans to participate, by nominating inspiring individuals from all walks of life. With this we are confident of inspiring the nation to strengthen our effort to build a Happy Sri Lanka.”
The three month search for inspiring stories of Happy Sri Lankans who have spread happiness to others will start in March. A panel of eminent judges, comprising of key opinion leaders from an array of social spheres in Sri Lanka, will select the 10 most inspiring stories from the nominations received. These 10 exemplary Sri Lankans will then be felicitated at the Panadol Sahanaabhimani Awards.