How Is Mental Health Linked To Marketing?If you use Googles keyword research tool to look at ‘mental health’ during 2020 you will notice a huge increase from 2019, due to (yes, you guessed it) COVID-19.
As 2021 unfolds, we at Marketing Quotes have noticed there is still a lot of internet searches for ‘mental health’ as the UK sees lockdown restrictions ease.
Mental health has been a topic that has been circulating now for many years, but particularly recently with Generation Z.
Some common mental health issues that have come to light in recent years are:
In the past people were just told to man up, but after WW1 with shell shock coming to the forefront. mental health, mental wellness and mental wellbeing has become more of a topic.
Since the lockdown periods of 2020, young people have been more focused on their mental well-being and this has been considered across the education systems here in the UK.
In many ways, COVID-19 has brought positive things into the UK society and even the world overall.
As overseas travel has ground to a halt over 2020, we have seen the environmental effects we as a society are causing our environment. Greta Thunburg raised this in her documentary series ‘A year to change the world’ as Venice canals cleared and global industry was set to pause.
During the lockdown, all non essential shops were told to close. Shops put their staff on furlough and all shopping was pushed online to the likes of Amazon who saw their profits soar. Slowly as the various lockdowns have eased, shops have had to adapt to the new normal.
Millions of staff were told to work from home as companies around the world quickly set up infrastructure for remote working. The effects on mental health vary significantly since we are all different. Some of us found this transition easy, some found it very difficult.
For this of us who were locked down with the immediate family and children the mental health effects of spending a huge amount of time together varies. For some, it is a joy to seen the children all day, for others this is a challenge. Now life is returning to normal, family bonds have had chance to be tested. For those of us who were cut off from family, the joy of seeing relatives again shows what is important in life.
Staying at home, no gym classes, no day trips brings the issue of boredom. How did you pass the time in 2020? Since hospitality was closed, churches were closed, what made a Tuesday different to a Sunday? Boredom has a huge effect on our mental health, we need to be active and challenged each day.
Lockdowns in the UK have had huge ripples to the world of marketing. As businesses adapt the ripple effects have caused UK marketing companies to shake up and future proof themselves. Retail has adapted to a more online presence as we have seen the high street shrink even more as the likes as Debenhams have closed.
There has been a surge in signage advising ‘you must wear a face covering’ or ‘keep 2 meters apart’, ‘hands face space’, the list goes on.
Companies selling PPE and face masks have been popping up on Google Ads as they compete to sell to those of us who are buying. In the past if you typed ‘face masks’ into Google, you would get the mud masks you use to unwind and improve your skin tone. Now you get industrial strength surgical face masks that are used in the healthcare sector.
The events and exhibition sector possibly suffered the most as event sites like the O2 were converted into testing and vaccination centres.
Now 3 years on, you still see many people walking around wearing face masks as you saw in China on a day to day basis pre COVID.
Many businesses use their marketing campaigns to include mental health, social distancing and COVID as part of our new normal society.
Over the last few decades, mental health and wellbeing has become more of an issue that society is starting to recognise. Consider during the 1940’s as war was consuming the world, how often was mental health discussed?
Lockdown and COVID-19 have brought pause to us all globally to stop and take stock, to reflect on what is important in life and if you take freedom of movement away, how we survive.
Many companies are using COVID-19 as a springboard for their marketing, to sell their products and adapt to the new normal.
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