In the past few
weeks I've come across several advertising campaigns aimed at raising awareness
about mental health problems. Two in particular focusing on Autism and Eating
Disorders caught my attention (you can see why below). Advertisers know what "sticks"
when it comes to marketing: sex, shock and emotion. These approaches can be
effective ways to sell products or promote a brand identity - but how well do
they transfer into the world social awareness? Or for that matter mental
health? SEXY The people at Sociological Images alerted
me to this Rethinking Autism ad campaign. The RA site maintains that:
"All too often in the world of autism, celebrity and
sex appeal are used to promote pseudo-science that exploits autistic people,
their family members and the public. We decided to put those very same factors
to work in service of the truth."
This is a
clever ad. It's information is scientifically-based and it captures your
attention. But is it effective? While I get the tongue-in-cheek reference that
Autism has become a "sexy" topic of discussion, I question whether
the core message gets buried beneath a sea of lingerie. The Rethinking Autism website
claims to want to "change the conversation one video at a time", but
are we changing the conversation towards Autism and debunking pseudo-science or
does the ad instead meander towards a debate about the objectification of women
as sex objects. If the latter then the message is lost.
EDGY Next up is a series of
ads from the Looking GlassFoundation for Eating Disorders based in Vancouver BC. The ads are edgy alright - but
their message is misleading. The tagline in the ads is "Not every note is
a suicide note" - which falsely implies that eating disorders are a method
of suicide. We know this is not true. So while the ads are effective in
shocking us, they do little to advance discourse because of their false message
- in fact they may even perpetuate the myth that eating disorders are motivated
by suicidal intent.
MOTIONAL Finally an anti-stigma ad campaign from the Mental Health Foundation of Nova Scotia (see
video on their homepage). The ad uses personal narratives, emotional music and
dream-like backgrounds to tell a story. In under a minute the video captures the
pervasive stigma that accompanies mental illnesses, touches on the scientific
basis of mental disorders as brain disorders, points to the need to improved
resources to meet the needs of those living with mental illnesses and
challenges the viewer to talk more openly about mental illness and mental
health. Effective doesn't have to be flashy and this ad is a great example of
the power of emotion and story to communicate an important message
David Venn
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