The initial advertisement that I chose comes from a campaign by DCF Advertising (a full-service creative agency that is passionate about social change) promoting NYC Well. NYC Well is a free, confidential support, crisis intervention, and information and referral service available 24/7 that encourages New Yorkers to reach out and discuss mental health issues and/or substance misuse concerns whenever and however they need to. Ultimately, the campaign sets out to normalize the help-seeking experience by illustrating positive interactions between people and counselors. The particular advertisement from this campaign that I chose was in Spanish, its main text’s English translation being “Let’s stay together, let’s progress together – you can help someone who is suffering by talking to them, listening to them and giving them support” with a quote by one of the subjects of its photo saying “My family does not talk about feelings, but my son knew that he was suffering”. When coming up with my three re-designs, I chose to target hispanic children, children in general, and then the general adult population. For the “hispanic children” design, I felt that I personally related to it in how I myself grew up in a hispanic household and understand what its like to have “dealing with one’s mental health” not be culturally accepted. For the “children in general” design, I thought about how teaching children to speak up while they’re still young will help society in the long run. Lastly, with the “general adult population” design, I wanted to make sure that adults didn’t think it was too late for them in the case that they were raised to not ask for help. With all three of these designs I hope to show people that they are worthy of help and that they matter (which is similar to the initial advertisement’s overall message, but done in my way). The main tag line, “Use Your Voice”, is something that my mother has started telling me in recent years, and I want to share that powerful message with others. I chose the initial advertisement that I chose because I think mental health is important and learning to be open about it is important.
