‘Is it you or anxiety talking?’: Beyondblue encourages anxiety sufferers to seek help
Beyondblue has launched a new campaigned aimed at Australians suffering with anxiety.
Created by Clemenger BBDO Melbourne, the 60 second commercial shows Peter sitting in an office meeting room as his anxiety begins to tell him why he is not good enough before his boss enters the room.
“The bottom line is….you’re just not good enough, you are a failure, just because you have a young family that’s no reason to keep you on,” Peter’s anxiety voices.
The spot finishes with the slogan ‘know when anxiety is talking’ directing people to the Beyondblue website.
Another 30 second ad shows Peter’s anxiety telling him how he is letting his team down.
Matt Pearce, planning director at Clemenger BBDO Melbourne, said in a statement: “We all get stressed from time to time. That’s a part of life. But anxiety is not stress, despite them often being lumped together.
“Strategically we had to find a way to separate anxiety from the individual and showcase what makes it distinct from a common stress response.”
Georgie Harman, CEO of Beyondblue, said the most common mental health condition in Australia is anxiety, affecting twice as many people as depression.
“It affects one in four Australians in their lifetime, yet a third of those take a year to recognise their symptoms. One in six take six years or more.
“We’ve made great strides in educating Australia about depression, yet anxiety remains widely misunderstood. It is a serious and common mental health condition, but the good news is there’s hope and treatments that work,” Harman noted.
Abigail Dawson was Mumbrella's senior content journalist covering event content. She left Mumbrella to move into an agency role in 2020.
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This is incredibly insightful work that is so, so true. Well done team.
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Awful creative from a useless organisation. They’ve taken a misinformed stereotype and have run with it. Were they inspired by the memes generated from Buzzfeed?
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The most accurate depiction of anxiety I have seen, I think ever. As someone who suffers from it and feels like this on a daily basis this ad actually shook me.
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Really? How would you have approached it if this is a stereotype?
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For those that live with anxiety, this creative would absolutely resonate. Whether you have it yourself, or know someone who does. I’ve experienced this in meetings more times than I care to remember.
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The ad nails it. Well done!
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Congratulations Clems on another outstanding campaign. Insightful, impactful and real. Nice work!
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Are you serious? I work for an agency that is a competitor to Clems – so I’m not defending their work. The 60 second ad is so accurate it’s as if the copywriter tapped into my brain when the negative rumination takes hold. That ad gives me so much comfort. And you know what? That ad is so powerful, the first time I believe at an emotional level that my anxiety is actually an illness not a weakness.
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This made me cry. Very accurate.
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Holy shit.
What a powerful piece of work. Congratulations.
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Couldn’t agree more. Shot so simply and delicately to balance the intensity. Well cast.
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