Calm launches suicide awareness campaign

Calm, the charity established to support men suffering from depression, is launching a controversial new radio and outdoor campaign to raise awareness of the high suicide rate among young males.

Ogilvy & Mather has created the radio campaign for Calm, which stands for the Campaign Against Living Miserably. It features comedians David Baddiel and Matthew Horne and is designed to provoke debate about the issues surrounding depression.

The campaign, which targets men aged 15 to 34, uses the strapline “Being silent isn’t being strong” with the billboards featuring a graphic of the bus blown up in last year’s July 7 London bombings.

Jane Powell, national development co-ordinator at Calm, says the initiative aims to raise public awareness about the growing suicide rate among young men in the UK.

“The public remains unaware of the sheer number of men who commit suicide each year,” she adds. “The reality is that the lives of over 1,000 young men a year are almost passed by without thought or comment.”