All marketing campaigns have a purpose, otherwise they would not be funded. Usually, the purpose is to persuade the public to purchase a product or service, but sometimes campaigns are designed to plant ideas that may be acted upon in the future. When school districts and government entities want to spend our tax dollars on outreach and marketing campaigns, we must ask ourselves what is the true purpose of this campaign? In the case of government entities, the answer is usually some variation of, this advertising campaign will help the people living in our district. In addition, emotion is typically used as a motivator for taxpayers. With COVID-19, government-funded marketing campaigns put fear into people to motivate them to get a vaccine.
During the July 18, 2023, Ottawa County Finance and Administration Committee Meeting, commissioners were asked to approve $8,000 for a social media advertising campaign which would target men’s mental health and hopefully lead to a reduction in suicide. Note that the date of the meeting was July 18, and the Man Therapy marketing campaign was scheduled to run from the end of July through September. It was suggested the campaign would, “raise awareness and reduce stigma around mental health for working-age men,” but it seems this effort may be exploiting the fact that veterans have been at the top of the suicide chart.
We have all heard the phrase, “follow the money.” Following the money, is more likely to lead to the true purpose of marketing campaigns. A major source of funding for Community Mental Health Ottawa County (CMHOC) is Medicaid. CMHOC is paid through Medicaid based on Medicaid eligible lives, so it makes sense that much of what they do focuses on registering people for Medicaid services. For example, through the Mental Health Millage, CMHOC provides money to the Momentum Center.
As part of their services, the Momentum Center refers people back to CMHOC. Barbara Lee Van Horssen, the Experi-Mentor at the Momentum Center stated during the June 26, 2023, Ottawa County Community Mental Health board meeting, “We refer members to Community Mental Health (CMH).” and “We also know that about 11% of our members started receiving CMH services after they joined the Momentum Center.”
The Man Therapy marketing campaign focuses on stigma, and mental health for men. According to Marcia Mansaray, who presented the proposal to the board of commissioners, “It tries to drive them to an assessment that it calls “Your Head Check,” and then that assessment can point them to a way to connect with community mental health.” She later stated, “They might be referred to the 24-hour access line with Community Mental Health, but Community Mental Health is aware of this and we have referrals available to local practitioners if the man asks for that. [] They do have immediate access to a 24/7 crisis line.”
In other words, the Man Therapy marketing campaign seems to be a self-referral program. Many of the CMHOC advertising campaigns seem to be about referrals and self-referrals. This is likely why so much time is spent advertising and at festivals, fairs, and schools and doing outreach to the Hispanic population. Referrals mean money.
Mental health stigma campaigns work in a similar way to pharmaceutical advertisements. When some people see a commercial about how a new drug treats a condition, they start to wonder if they themselves have the condition. The commercials instruct them to ask their doctor about the drug, and many people do. Likewise, using stigma as a talking point about mental health plants questions into the minds of potential patients. Some people begin to believe they likely have mental health issues and are then encouraged to seek more information. Through love bombing and affirmation they are unknowingly led down a particular path which is likely to increase the number of patients for those who treat mental health.
Once marketing campaigns are underway, they typically need justification to continue. Business owners want to know if marketing campaigns are indeed increasing sales. To justify the Man Therapy program, during the July 18 meeting, references were made to a similar Man Therapy campaign that operated from January 2022 through September 2022. CMHOC reported that during the campaign, website visits increased from 64 to 243 and the percentage of people who completed the ‘head inspection survey’ increased, but they also mentioned the average time spent on the website was just a few minutes. CMH explained that the website offered visitors a ‘red phone’, where they could get 24/7 crisis help.
Board Chairman Joe Moss expressed the desire to examine the data and find a better solution. “Suicide prevention is critical. It should be something that we put a priority on especially if there is ten, or twenty, or thirty here in Ottawa County who would benefit from the work. So, that red phone program could be really beneficial, but maybe something that we could run separate from this and make it more long term instead of just two months.”
Nobody disputes that some men are at risk of suicide, and the suicide rate is higher among men. It is the solution that is questionable. Everyone agrees that we should take logical steps to reduce suicide, but this becomes increasingly more difficult when data is presented in a misleading way.
Commissioner Ebel asked a key question about the Red Phone. “How many [people] last year actually used the Red Phone?”
The answer given by CMHOC employee Marcia Mansaray was surprising. “One. One person clicked on the Red Phone Line.”
During the meeting Marcia Mansaray made another comment that indicated the campaign may be questionable. “The resources that we decided, were probably not something we would want to put out publicly, because we don’t want to put something on a billboard that is a little bit crass, maybe, that children can see as they are driving by. When men go to the website, this should all be very, very appropriate for an adult.”
When I visited the Man Therapy website, the first thing I clicked on was shockingly hilarious. I thought I was on the wrong site. Manly Mental Health Tips: Yoga. See the video below.
Others in the room were convinced I was watching a parody, but I was not. Somehow this video is intended to help men who are at risk of suicide. I’m not sure how a manly yoga parody is really helpful when it seems to ridicule through a stereotype of men doing yoga. Perhaps this is the reason people spent only a few minutes on the website, and only one used the Red Phone Line? The program could be effective. The website claims “a 4-year $1.2 million study, funded by the CDC shows that Man Therapy not only helps reduce depression, suicide risk, and poor mental health days, it also improves help-seeking behavior in working-aged men.” The videos are certainly entertaining, but this video doesn’t give me the best impression. I find it odd that I constantly hear that Western society is awash in toxic masculinity, yet CMH considers advertising a program that seems to encourage men to behave like Al Bundy.
In Ottawa County, we are very lucky to have county commissioners that ask questions and research requests before giving their approval. This request was tabled to be discussed at the next commissioner meeting. Commissioners seemed to want more information before making a decision.
It seems to me that using tax dollars for anti-stigma advertising campaigns may actually increase mental health problems rather than reduce them. Perhaps a better solution would be to provide the community with therapists that can treat mental health issues when they arise. If we virtue signal by lamenting stigma experienced by specific groups through constant advertising, we create continuous justification to employ marketing firms and not specialists that work for the truly distressed. I have enough trust in the ability of the average citizen to seek out care on their own without being prodded by the constant bombardment of health and medical advertising.
You can watch the July 18, 2023, commissioner meeting below. The Man Therapy discussion begins at 38:45.