Ahead of Pride Month in June, children’s audio system tonies is excited to launch Pride Tales, a Tonie dedicated to celebrating and reinforcing positive Pride messages for little listeners and their families.

Narrated by television favourite and professional dancer Johannes Radebe, the Pride Tales Tonie takes the shape of the famous Pride Rainbow. Johannes’ colourful and fun personality provides the perfect backdrop to the content, complemented by the addition of his own context and commentary to each of the tales.

For the launch of the Pride Tales Tonie, tonies has partnered with Mermaids, a charity which has been supporting transgender, nonbinary and gender-diverse children, young people, and their families since 1995. tonies will be donating 100% of the profits from sales of the Pride Tales Tonie to Mermaids, helping to support the invaluable work they do in empowering young children and educating society on gender identity.

tonies has collaborated with a range of talent from within the LGBTQ+ community to write and produce engaging stories and uplifting music for the Pride Tales Tonie, to help young children explore and understand the LGBTQ+ community and its diversity. The content explores a range of family dynamics and teaches children the importance of always being respectful to others – because what’s perfect for you might not be perfect for someone else.

Pinky Laing, Partnerships & PR Manager at tonies, says: “It’s so important for little ones to begin learning about diversity and inclusivity from a young age, and what better way for tonies to help than with the launch of our Pride Tales Tonie. The Tonie is an accessible, easy to understand way for parents to introduce their children to these important topics.

The launch of our Pride Tales Tonie forms part of our commitment to making diverse and inclusive content that educates children and makes them feel that they belong, no matter who they are and where they come from. We can’t wait for the wonderful tales to be enjoyed by all families on our Tonieboxes.”

Johannes Radebe says: “It was an absolute pleasure to narrate the role of Rainbow – I believe each one of us represents a colour and together we create a beautiful colourful world. I’m from a country known as the rainbow nation and from a young age I’ve always understood that our beauty lies in our uniqueness as people. Happy Pride Month to you all, my beautiful, colourful friends. I hope our story makes you smile.”