Christmas ads always add to the festive fun. But some can make you stop and think. The campaign that Walkers is leading along with Comic Relief is one such ad. It features the protagonist, who arrives at a Christmas party, and an emoji follows him around revealing how he is really feeling.
The ad hopes to shed light on mental health and the pressure to feel ‘fine’ during a festive period.
With a voiceover from radio presenter Roman Kemp, who has himself been campaigning about mental health, the advertisement is all part of a partnership between Walkers and Comic Relief.
In a study earlier this year, Walkers uncovered something interesting. The study found that 38 percent of the time people say they are ‘fine’ they’re actually not fine. And during Christmas more people feel the pressure to say that they are fine instead of admitting that they are not OK.
The campaign will air on digital channels from 21st November, before premiering on TV on 1 December and in cinemas from 25 November.
The advertisement features Roman’s voiceover who has been part of the campaign for better mental health.
“Christmas is an amazing time of year, but it’s also a very challenging time for a lot of people.”
Roman Kemp (was quoted in the Sun Newspaper)
Roman was quoted in the Sun newspaper and said, “As someone who has been open about their own battle with mental health and seen first-hand the devastating consequences of people bottling up their feelings, this is a campaign very close to my heart.”
“Christmas is an amazing time of year, but it’s also a very challenging time for a lot of people.”
Roman went on the streets in London to launch the campaign. It is reported that many who spoke to him confessed to being on ‘auto pilot’ and and admitting that all is well.
Walkers donated £2 million to Comic Relief for mental wellbeing projects. Philippa Pennington, from Walkers, said, “We know Christmas can be a challenging time for many, and the pressure to appear positive and pretend everything is ‘fine’, even if it’s not, is particularly strong at this time of year.”
“The message of our Christmas campaign – that it can help to open up and talk about your feelings – is so important and we hope to be able to encourage people to talk a little more this festive season,” she was quoted in the Sun newspaper as saying.
Earlier on this year, the Walkers and Comic Relief collaborated for a similar campaign. Ross Neil, Creative Director at VCCP was quoted by Marketing Communication News. “Whenever someone asks how we are, we tend to keep everything pushed down inside by cutting off a real response with “fine”. What’s wrong with opening up? Let’s put an end to masking our real emotions by putting a fine on using the worst F word of them all…fine.”
The season for
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