Mental health ads focus on celebrity

A local NHS Trust in southern England, the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Strategic Health Authority, is launching a campaign to raise awareness of mental health issues.

The poster campaign features images of mental illness sufferers, including Winston Churchill and Princess Diana.

Ruth Davison of the authority says the aim of the ads is to change perceptions of those with mental health problems. “The people featured in our campaign have changed history or inspired generations,” she says.

The ads will run on the side of buses and poster sites around Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire as part of a multi-agency campaign. The ads were created by the Hull-based advertising agency Ewens and planned by the local NHS trusts. The posters use the strapline: “Mental health problems can affect anyone – see the person, not the problem.”

At the same time as the ad campaign, the local NHS, Luton Borough Council and Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire county councils are working to improve mental health services in the area.