Brands rally for Blue Monday

Brands including Halifax, Confused.com, Starbucks and VitaCoco are jumping on the Blue Monday bandwagon in an effort to cheer people up on what has been subbed the most depressing day of the year.

Confused.com
Brands try to cheer up Blue Monday.

Halifax is giving out free jellybeans at major train stations “to brighten up Blue Monday” as part of its Beat Blue Monday promotion.

The bank is also running a promoted tweet campaign on Twitter using the hashtag #bluemonday. It will giveaway £100 worth of shopping vouchers every 100 minutes to people that Like its Facebook page today (21 January).

Confused.com is running an online campaign designed to encourage people to share hugs to boost “happiness and warmth”. It claims 87 per cent of Brits say a hug would make them feel happy.

The Cardiff-based firm is sharing an infographic that shows how to share a ‘cwtch’ – a Welsh hug (pronounced cuch) as it says 77 per cent of Brits haven’t heard of it.

Starbucks is also using Blue Monday to highlight its Monday £1.50 latte promotion launched earlier this month.

Coconut water brand Vita Coco is also running a Twitter promotion giving away a new experience every day for the next three weeks to counter the January blues. It is using the #trysomethingnew hashtag.

Psychologists have claimed that the third Monday in January is the most depressing day of the year as the novelty of Christmas and the New Year has worn off, failed resolutions, the weather and debt all take their toll.

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