Seize The Awkward’s purpose is to normalize the conversation around mental health among 16-24 year-olds, and for the new evolution of this campaign, a new audience took center stage: BIPOC and LGBTQ+ youth. The work needed to encourage friends to push past the stigmas and create a new culture around mental health that challenged the existing barriers to conversation in their communities.

The cultural conversation about mental health has excluded young people of color and other marginalized groups. “We Can Talk About It” makes them feel heard, reflecting the lived experiences of BIPOC and LGBTQ+ 16-24 year olds through the mental health stigmas they encounter, from machismo culture to the belief that depression is “a white people thing.”

In the film, the stigmas take the form of casual remarks, misguided advice and toxic positivity, putting a spotlight on the culturally specific barriers our audience faces when it comes to discussing their mental health. It’s only when a friend or loved one reaches out, giving them space to open up, that change begins.

Man up.

Just pray about it.

Stop complaining.

Stay strong.

Other people have it worse.

It’s all in your head.

You’re being dramatic.

You sound crazy.

Snap out of it.

These are just a few of the barriers and stigmas marginalized groups face in the US when it comes to discussing their mental health, an issue that’s often considered a personal weakness rather than a legitimate medical condition.

But friends understand friends. They share similar life experiences and can relate. Reaching out and opening up to each other are how friends can collectively overcome the isolation of suffering in silence.

This was created to challenge the taboo of discussing mental health in communities of color by giving a model for how to push past the stigmas, demonstrating the positive effect of reaching out to a friend, and connecting them to tools for starting a conversation.

The campaign came to life in a breadth of film assets to fit media types across the TV, social, and digital platforms. The hero piece was our 60-second film and additional 30-second, 15-second and 6-second versions that fit our wide variety of donated media. It was promoted on broadcast, YouTube, Snapchat, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram Stories and in-feed.

Between the launch of our film, on October 25, 2022, and February 28, 2023, “We Can Talk about It” received $2M in donated broadcast media. From Meta, the film received $25M in total donated media across Facebook and Instagram.

Between October 2022 and February 2023, “We Can Talk about It” garnered an estimated 91 million impressions on broadcast media. On Facebook and Instagram, the film received 8.4 million impressions during the first week of November.

As of December 2022, over half of young adults in the US were aware of the campaign. And awareness was highest among Black and Hispanic youth; 63% of Black young adults and 57% of Hispanic young adults were aware of the campaign.

Young people who were aware of the campaign were 26% more likely to have talked with a friend about what they were going through emotionally or concerning their mental health. They were 28% more likely to reach out to a friend who is/might be struggling with their mental health. And they were 43% more likely to read information on how to support a friend with their mental health.