TheLADbible Group is partnering with charities including the Samaritans and the Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) on a three-month campaign to raise awareness of male mental health issues.
The Manchester-based publisher will look to engage its huge youth audience on the “UOKM8?” campaign, which includes around half of all British men between 18 and 24.
It will also work with the Movember Foundation and the Mental Health Foundation and will kick off with Everyday Heroes, a series of documentaries from British filmmaker Mollie Mills, whose previous projects include Boys Don’t Cry.
In the launch film, Olympic gymnast Louis Smith talks about his own experiences of depression.
Watch it here:
“I was snatched away from my old life so quick, I got that down I could see why people would end up committing suicide…I think men try to be proud. Almost to the point that they try to be in denial. And if anything goes wrong, it just boils over,” says Smith.
TheLADbible will also be also be gathering data from its audience to develop what it claims is “the broadest picture” of these issues ever achieved. We will share that data with policy makers and charities and build an open source information bank for all the relevant stakeholders.
Other video content created for the campaign will include a film about Andy’s Man Club, the Halifax-based mens’ group set up by campaigner Luke Ambler. The film series will be supported by an ongoing series of editorial pieces to drive conversation about the issues and a dedicated ‘”UOKM8?” hub integrated into theladbible.com site.
Ian Moore, editorial director of TheLADbible Group, said: “We know that our audience are hugely affected by these issues and that they need to feel that opening up is the brave thing to do.
“Around half of all British men between 18-24 follow TheLADbible and I believe that by opening up our platform so our audience can talk about these issues, we can persuade young men to give themselves permission to talk about the feelings of isolation, anxiety and depression that they currently keep secret. We’re aiming to generate more data-driven insight into male mental health than has ever been achieved before.”
Jane Powell, CEO of CALM, added: “The LADbible are brilliantly placed to help us listen to and learn from a huge number of guys and help build a better understanding of this silent killer.”
TheLADbible is currently in the process of raising up to £25m to fund international growth and has recently appointed a chief operating officer and chief financial officer.
Its flagship title has almost 16 million followers on Facebook alone.
