Green Ribbon Group – How Are You? Campaign
10 September 2022 to 10 October 2022
Every year, the Green Ribbon Group runs the How Are You? campaign from World Suicide Prevention Day on 10 September to World Mental Health Day on 10 October. It is focused on initiating a conversation – checking in to encourage people to get in touch with a loved one, and reaching out to those who may be going through a difficult time.
“How Are You?” has either become too foreign for some of us to ask, or we ask – and answer – without giving much thought to how we are really feeling. The goal is to normalise conversations on mental health and encourage help-seeking behaviour. Since the inception of our campaign in 2021, we are fortunate to have had our messaging spread across 29 billboards in 21 locations around Kuala Lumpur.
While the 2021 campaign was conducted entirely on social media – given lockdown restrictions amidst the pandemic – we felt the need to ease into a physical component this year with Talk2Me, which is geared towards engaging the public directly. It was inspired by the idea of interviewing people on the streets to share their experiences as done by Humans of New York – an in-person or face-to-face event via a one-to-one format to help drive more conversations on mental health.
We plan on recording these conversations and producing a series of videos to help advocate for mental health on our social media platform. Six videos will be posted in both English and Bahasa Melayu from 20 September to 7 October. Random interviews will also be conducted to capture public sentiments on the importance of mental health. The How Are You? campaign culminates with a video that will be posted on 10 October.
Digital advocacy is a strong suit of ours. To further boost our engagement online, we have developed a set of Conversation Cards on mental health in English and Bahasa Melayu. These cards will be sold as part of the campaign as well. Split into four categories – Awareness, The Self, Peer Support and Social Shifts – these decks aim to develop deeper conversations on mental health. There are questions to help kickstart conversations to spur interest on the subject, self-reflection and sharing amongst a group of people.
Follow us on Instagram at @greenribbongroup.my for updates on our campaign.