London based Hot Octopuss has shared their touching tribute for Men's Health Week, June 13 to June 19, with a raw and honest discussion about Men's Mental Health. Globally, on average one man dies by suicide, every minute of every day, yet men's mental health is still a 'taboo' subject.
Hot Octopuss has released a series of videos of men sharing their struggles with mental health and toxic masculinity in a bid to encourage more men to have this important discussion. This campaign is especially important to Head of Creative, Kelly Gordon, as she lost her best friend Tom to suicide when they were both only 19.
Kelly said: “A large contributing factor of Tom taking his own life, was the pressure on him as a man within a society that is so quick to judge. Making the series of videos with men from all different backgrounds was really important to me to demonstrate that men do still hide their feelings. As a brand we want to encourage men to keep talking and to remind them all feelings are valid”
The series of short films includes men from different backgrounds having a frank discussion about men’s mental health and toxic masculinity. Participant ex-veteran Shaun Johnson, said "I've struggled with mental health from the military for many years, I'd like to do my military time again and make changes if I could, if I knew the consequences."
The purpose of this video is to break the stigma and encourage men from all backgrounds to speak up about their mental health and to speak to their friends and family about anything they’re going through.
To help spread this message the company is using the hashtags #MensHealthWeek2022 #SelfLoveNotStigma #HotOctopuss and will run the campaign all week starting from Monday 13th June.
