Absolutely love this “May is MH Month,” campaign by Burger King in collaboration w Mental Health America.
I get it – it pokes fun at the McDonald’s “Happy Meal” & there’s certainly a huge business driving element behind it. I’m ok w a company driving revenues through social change if – the message is on-point. This “Real Meals” campaign represents, to me at least, the first big shift we’ve seen from a large brand, to go AWAY from the standard MH messaging we’ve seen for decades now, related to labeling, “1 in 5” & “mental illness,” alone.
The concept is simple – colors, related to feelings we ALL have at different points throughout the yr (& often every day), to describe our EMOTIONS. It brings attention to how we ALL face challenges & challenging emotions, & how MH is about way more than just disorder labels, alone. It’s inclusive of everyone – bc even those w disorder/illness, are represented in these meal plans, w feelings they may be having.
You can get the “Blue” meal, the “Salty” meal, the “Yaaaas” meal, & the “DGAF” meal & the “Pissed” meal (see examples in “stories”). Not so dissimilar to the “mood board” story we shared about that teacher who let’s her students have a MH check-in.
Compare this to a segment where Chris Cuomo passionately talked about MH & the need for change in our society. He even went so far as to say it’s our #1 issue. BUT if you look at the graphics he’s still using in 2019, they were the same stats we always see about the % who have illness, into buckets, that do nothing but tell the “4 in 5” – that it’s not a topic for them.
Two passionate messages, both w the same goals. One inclusive of everyone. One about the % who are sick. Which gets more ppl involved? Which better reduces the “stigma” we hear so much about? Not hard to see when they are compared.
