Lo1 - 'Calms"

Charity campaign, CALM's heartbreaking suicide prevention campaign (Campaign Against Living Miserably) 2022 #TellAMate

Target Audience:

The target audience is people who struggle with mental health, also people who have loved ones who suffer with mental health. It's Also made for people who suffer from bottling their problems up and have to play it off like they're okay to their loved ones. The Primary target audience is young males who feel embarrassed to speak up about their problems. The age range is everyone.

Key message:

The message of the CALMs campaign is to connote the message that you should always check up on a loved one, or if you feel down you should speak up about it. The campaign uses their website and youtube platforms to promote the idea of speaking up, mental health matters.

Engage the Audience:

The use of synergy, you can visit the campaign either on the way to work via the 6.5ft images which denote images that connote people being happy; but in reality it was their last moments before they sadly left due to suicide. The Calms campaign uses their website to encourage the audience to seek guidance ;whether that be for themselves who are struggling with their mental health, or have loved ones who they feel are struggling but are too afraid to speak up. They use their platform to encourage the viewer to watch a short video from someone who is suffering the same as them, this is done by the search bar. You can support the campaign by donating money to help fund therapists and the videos on the web.

Usage of stereotypes:

The stereotypes denoted in the short film 'Suicidal Doesn't Always Look Suicidal', is a male gender bas. The usage of men in the short film is stereotypical as statistics show that the male suicide rate is higher, the short film denotes a montage of men who seem to be enjoying life ; Dads playing with their kids and men with their friends. Juxtaposing the stereotype of men being strong and strong minded. Although the montage is mainly stereotypical, we see some female representation. 'These are the last videos of people who look their own lives' is added at time stamp 1:05 to connote the message that you should always be checking in on your loved ones, no matter how happy they seem.

Logistics of the Campaign:

The campaign was brought together to show the impact that our mental health's can have on us. The campaign is funded on donations by people with loved ones who have been taken by their mental health. The campaign was created by Jane Powell, she created the campaign to take action towards the suffering of men and women who suffer from mental health. 'Jane was asked to launch a pilot campaign that young men would connect with'. Which is why the montage on youtube is mainly male dominated. Janes vision is to challenge the stereotypes of men bottling up their feelings.

Legal and Ethical Issues:

Due to ethical issues, the 'Calms' advert for suicide awareness was taken down and deemed distressing by the ASA. This lead to the advert being taken down in 2022. The ASA received complaints such as ' the ad should not be shown before 9pm'. They took the action to take the advert down, but it is still up on youtube with 10m views. 

Legal issues of the campaign include if they have the right to share personal information on the people represented in their media.