topic MY NAME IS ANXIETY ad is a bit too dark & threatening for a community feel site..... in Anxiety

MY NAME IS ANXIETY ad is a bit too dark & threatening for a community feel site.....

The_Real_David_Charles — Sun, 02 Jun 2013 14:29:23 GMT

Dear BB,

I'm more anxious reading the ad MY NAME IS ANXIETY. It's a bit dark/threatening/James Bond meets Dracula. For me, I end up making fun of it just to see some sense. This is a serious point but requires some humour to understand it:

"I am the tightening of your cheast" - [from your BB ad]

I am trying on a Medium Size Shirt instead of my true Extra Large Size XXXXXX.[David's interpretation]

"I am the hot & cold flushes that confuse you when you are already confused enough" [BB]

Who ordered the Bombay Duck and why is it so hot in the Indian Restaurant ? [David]

"I am the obsessive and the compulsive" [BB]

I am the Country AND the Western (Blues Brothers movie) [David]

"I am the ill ease you feel when walking into a crowded room" [BB]

"We should have waited for the Ladies Leane and not snuck into the Gents toilets at the State of Origin" [David]

I don't mean to disrespect the work that went into this campaign but all the cloak and dagger is leading to more anxiety or secrecy and missing the whole point that Anxiety can be given a realistic angle with simple definitions that won't scare the living beJesus out of people. The only real danger is that such an ad actually stigmatises what is already stigmatised by making things appear too foreboding to tackle or seek treatment. I always thought Beyondblue had a more mature view of mental illness than to make a serious illness like anxiety masqaurade as a cheap 1950's cop show.

What are you relating to ? Someone's inner fear ? That Anxiety has no daylight ? It's a confusing ad and yet by placing it in the opening page there is the danger that a newcomer might be turned off the site. Counter productive ?

How is BB gonna treat my own illness - bipolar ? A Jeckyl and Hyde scenario ? "I am the mood disorder that cannot be controlled because raging neurons in your brain disconnect and alter your behaviour without so much as a by your leave and then leave your family in a panic because one minute you're suicidal and the next you want to be Jack Nicholson giving the eye to the LA Lakers Basketball Cheer Leaders when the Lakers are 86 to 88 in the last seconds and Kobe has the ball and they need a 3 pointer to win". So "I am the Hot and Cold" would be the sausage roll and the beer. Just saying.

Adios, David.

PS Any other feedback or am I on my own here ?

MY NAME IS ANXIETY ad is a bit too dark & threatening for a community feel site.....

The_Real_David_Charles — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 06:48:15 GMT

Dear BB,

I just got half way through the video clip for MY NAME IS ANXIETY and had to stop.

Having had mental health problems for over 25 yrs, numerous psych admissions, etc, I really can't relate to the vibe of this video. "I am the whip to your already racing heart" (with a whip like flick). Who needs that ?

The manner is scary or staged. The illness is in need of understanding and mindset. It's just not possible that a BB executive would have viewed this before airing. It's too damaging to a fragile psyche for that. Surely, if you want to reveal the dangers of anxiety you do it with a bit of reinforcement, love and compassion.

Putting MY NAME IS ANXIETY in a scary house is really nothing more than 100 years ago when people were locked up in the asylums for life having committed small offers or even got pregnant by mistake. For an orgnisation that is all about community care where is the sympathy ?

It seems to be a cheap punch in the face of those that really suffer. Please take this offensive video and blog off the BB website before any real damage is done.

Adios, David.

PS Where was the moderation ?????

MY NAME IS ANXIETY ad is a bit too dark & threatening for a community feel site.....

Vegetarian Marshmallow — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 08:35:17 GMT

It made me laugh. Reminded me of Darkwing Duck: "I am the terror that flaps in the night! I am the surprise in your cereal box! I am the termite that devours your floorboards! I am the metal key on the sardine can of justice!".

Pretty much every advertisement I see goes in either of the "cheesy" or "boring" boxes. I prefer the cheesy ones.

MY NAME IS ANXIETY ad is a bit too dark & threatening for a community feel site.....

geoff — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 15:26:30 GMT

dear David Charles, you know I'm with you. Geoff.

MY NAME IS ANXIETY ad is a bit too dark & threatening for a community feel site.....

The_Real_David_Charles — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 04:33:53 GMT

Dear Rodentrdron,

Maybe Darkwing Duck is a better actor than Ben Mendlesohn ? Although one of the Mutant Ninja Turtle Super Hero's might give you a run from their sewer.

Adios, David.

MY NAME IS ANXIETY ad is a bit too dark & threatening for a community feel site.....

The_Real_David_Charles — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 05:12:02 GMT

Dear Geoff,

On a serious note. With the big MY NAME IS ANXIETY campaign raging I would seriously question it's effectiveness when one considers that there remain multiple posts in the form of "Do I have anxiety ?". The BB powers that be could have contracted an extra moderator for 6 months with the same budget. Just saying.

Adios, David.

MY NAME IS ANXIETY ad is a bit too dark & threatening for a community feel site.....

The_Real_David_Charles — Sun, 28 Jul 2013 07:05:29 GMT

Dear BB,

My Name Is Anxiety. The ad, not the tv series.

Why does Ben Mendlesohn, in the ad, only had 1 thumb and 3 fingers on his right hand ? Is this why he is suffering from anxiety ?

Has he just come from a party where he said "Pull my finger" and a young nephew has taken him too literally ?

Adios, David.

PS I am testing Pandora's Paradox's theory on conflict, i.e. anxiety, being minimalised or defused by humour. Just noticed the missing finger today.

MY NAME IS ANXIETY ad is a bit too dark & threatening for a community feel site.....

Mr_J — Mon, 29 Jul 2013 01:19:10 GMT

100% agree that the ad was not well delivered. You made me get the feeling that delivery was meant to be dark and scary.

Anxiety can be good and bad. People might just be shy? and you bring on a scary ad about anxiety and they start to think "oh god do i have this, i'm shy, i like my alone time, i must have it"

You guys need a fun upbeat ad about all the great things in life and all the amazing things that happen by fighting these diseases. Not ads that scare people.

In the end i stopped watching it i got bored, frustrated and was thinking "what the actual hell are they trying to tell people here"

I want to make an animation for Beyond Blue and i'd go the lighter happier way instead of the dark delivery you guys are known for.

MY NAME IS ANXIETY ad is a bit too dark & threatening for a community feel site.....

beyondblue_Online_Communi — Fri, 09 Aug 2013 00:30:21 GMT

Hi all,

Thanks for your comments and feedback re: our 'Get to Know Anxiety' campaign. It will be passed on to our marketing team here for their consideration.

I thought it might be helpful to post some clarification around some of the decision-making behind the campaign.

Get to Know Anxiety was launched in May after extensive testing with blueVoices members living with different levels and types of anxiety. New research showed the number of Australian adults who reported experiencing an anxiety condition in the past 12 months had grown almost 40% in the past four years. Anxiety is obviously an incredibly common condition, but too many Australians still think that symptoms such as obsessive behaviour, relentless worrying or panic attacks are just a part of who they are.

We launched this campaign to show that having anxiety is nothing to be ashamed of and, once it is recognised, it is very responsive to treatment. Another reason we launched the campaign is because, despite anxiety being more common than depression and one in four Australians likely to experience anxiety during their lifetime, research showed only 12% of Australians viewed it as a major health problem.

The impact of the launch was immediate, with the weekly calls to the our support service growing more than 50% from 1400 before the launch to 2170 in the campaign’s first week. Our website has experienced a similar surge, including the most ever visitors in one day. Also, the Ben Mendelsohn video 'I Am Anxiety' went 'viral' and has attracted almost 200,000 views on YouTube.

We've been floored with the amount of support we have received for the campaign, with many people writing to us explaining that the ads have inspired them to seek help and how important that has been. We understand that any campaign will have its critics, but we've been really happy with how this is going, especially by breaking down stigma in getting people talking about anxiety that may not have experienced it.

Thanks,

Hugh

MY NAME IS ANXIETY ad is a bit too dark & threatening for a community feel site.....

The_Real_David_Charles — Fri, 09 Aug 2013 04:14:16 GMT

Dear Hugh,

But don't you want people talking about Anxiety for the right reason, i.e. not with some sort of dark, scare campaign ? There's no link or support service linked on the BB site that includes "Cathartic Therapy".

Your logic is strange - 200,000 You Tubes hits for a dark, scare campaign is "good". Why not include someone suiciding to elicit more understanding of depression ? The You Tubes hits for that would be even higher. The calls would be greater. The response would be greater. But again, would the increased awareness from such explicit and dark messages be "good" ?

Why would Beyond blue feel the need to validate and justify itself ? It's is a kind of punked experience - the safety pins in the ear and the mouth not being enough to attract attention so a purple mowhawk and bin liner costume must be added.

If "anxiety is nothing to be ashamed of" then it's probably "nothing to be made an exhibition of". Surely, it's a bad day for a supportive depressive site when research within its own organisation is trumped up as a response finding mission. Do you know what % felt the same way as myself from the 200,000 You Tube hits ? NO ! You're just quoting the figure. It's contentious so it's good ? Really ? That's not exactly a positive message.

What if the Ben Mendlesohn clip caused more anxiety about anxiety then actual "let's expose this, warts and all" ? The justifications that you list are more to do with advertising company budgets. There seems to be a complete lack of "how" we do this. Why did you go with an ad that scares the s**t out of people ? Advertisers always go for the extremes. Probably why the add was lonely and devoid of humany interaction. Lacking in emotive response other than a droning, frightening, repetitive tone that said a dozen times "I am anxiety" = "I am bad" = "All mentally ill are bad" = "Let's stereotype mental illness".

Beyondblue, where are you ? It reads on a gutter press level. There is no warmth, no feeling of hope, no rescue plan and no glimpse of recovery. Gotta ask - is this the template for all mental illness presentations ? Adios, David.

MY NAME IS ANXIETY ad is a bit too dark & threatening for a community feel site.....

beyondblue_Online_Communi — Fri, 09 Aug 2013 08:47:18 GMT

Hi David,

Of course, you are right - there is absolutely more to measuring success than plain numbers or YouTube hits. These are just preliminary numbers and we'll have a far more detailed and accurate summation of the campaign once it is independently and extensively evaluated.

MY NAME IS ANXIETY ad is a bit too dark & threatening for a community feel site.....

dropbear — Fri, 09 Aug 2013 09:00:06 GMT

This is a poem I wrote describing my struggle with depression. I hope it resonates within everyone who reads it and reassures that depression should shared and not bottled up Anyway here it is:

The Bleakness of Knowing

A step behind where ever I go

This pit of black sorrows

The beast abides for the chance

To claim the one it knows

Too many days of song and wine

So many things left undone

Fruitless pursuit’s, conceited affairs

Decay already begun

As a corpse lay fresh in ground

And creatures relish the feast

The beast that’s always with me

Comes quickly fury released

It hides the sun and binds my soul

Dripping with fogs of despair

I muddle within the inky murk

Life’s compass in disrepair

Flooding numbness rising fast

Breaching levy banks

Sweeping all before

The tide of hopes which sank

Beast is back, it is here

The inconvenient friend

Shall you tarry long

Shall you be my end

Possesses me completely

Immersed in gelatinous fears

Disconnect from all that’s dear

Optimism disappears

You know me so well

You conspire to steal my joy

I stand revealed before you

My hopes and dreams destroyed

And when you’re done and had your fill

I’ll languish in your wake

Pitch surrenders to the light

I endure for families’ sake

Beast departs... but not too far

I take solace at its going

But I know it will come back

Tis the bleakness of knowing

MY NAME IS ANXIETY ad is a bit too dark & threatening for a community feel site.....

The_Real_David_Charles — Mon, 12 Aug 2013 01:05:59 GMT

Thanks dropbear,

Maybe BB will have a section for poetry. It would be interesting to have a place to go where all the poems that have been written on the site over the years can be viewed. There have been some really expressive ones like this one.

I've got to write some short stories for a few weeks - it's quite freeing. There's a line from the movie "The Committments" where they are getting a band together. Faced with the impossible (and most depressives know how that feels) the psuedo band manager Jimmy says "We just have to start. The rest in inevitable".

Is procrastination a form of depression or just stuck thinking ?

Adios, David.

MY NAME IS ANXIETY ad is a bit too dark & threatening for a community feel site.....

Jellybean_Bandit — Mon, 13 Jan 2014 02:18:33 GMT

I just watched the My Name is Anxiety ad and I have to say I disagree with you David. The ad depicted many of my experiences of anxiety so well that it made me shift in my seat. I nearly couldn't finish it because I identified so strongly with it. I actually find some of your responses to the phrases used in the ad slightly offensive as it feels a little like you are making fun of my experiences but of course you don't know me and therefore I know better than to take your comments personally :-)

As someone who has experienced various forms of anxiety my entire life, I found the ad very confronting - in a good way. Of course experiencing anxiety is different for everyone, but I think the ad does touch on some common themes that most people with anxiety would experience at some stage in their lives. I'm not sure I'll look at Ben Mendelsohn the same way, which is a shame because he was one of my favourite Australian actors!

I'm currently working on a community engagement program with sporting, social and recreation clubs and groups around building a more inclusive and accessible community for all - including those who experience mental illness. Some of the responses I am getting from every day members of the public hark back to the dark ages so I don't think the ad is too far off the mark for many (unfortunately). I think people who cope with mental illness or mood disorders every day can sometimes forget that not everyone is as educated around this stuff as we might like them to be. Sure - we've a long way. But my recent experience within my local community has shown me that we have a long way to go and I believe ads like My Name is Anxiety gets us a little closer.

I'm interested to know how you would have done the ad differently?