Not fighting words.

This is a follow up to last week’s post — a somewhat rambly defence of Bell’s use of their brand name in #BellLetsTalk.

For my news radio course this semester, each week, our class produces an hour-long talk radio show. We rotate the various jobs around so everyone gets a hands-on experience in some aspect of producing a radio show. This week, fittingly, my job was to do a three-minute editorial rant on air. The segment this rant belongs to is called “Them’s fightin’ words”.

After my blog post last week, I was still feeling a little worked about about the #BellLetsTalk “haters”, so I thought I would re-gather my thoughts on the issue, and create a more cohesive, thought-out argument. Now, I did say it on air, and I must say, I did so with minimal stutters and stumbles. But, here’s what I had to say:

Last week, Bell Canada had its 5th “Let’s Talk” Day. Just for a little background if you somehow haven’t heard of this initiative that Bell started in 2010: It’s a day where people all over the country can call, text, share, and tweet #BellLetsTalk, and for each one, Bell donates five cents toward mental health initiatives.

So my fighting words today, are actually just the opposite.

Bell Let’s Talk. Not fighting words.

Some however, are not cool with the fact that Bell uses their name in the viral hashtag. The hashtag that they started. The hashtag that they donate five cents for, which has accumulated to 67.5 million dollars toward mental health initiatives since 2010.

Alright, let’s go over this again.

Bell, who doles out like 15 million dollars to mental health initiatives and stirs up great conversation about mental health each year, decided they’d put their name on all the good they’ve started, and that’s not okay?

Bell is not only supporting mental health initiatives, they’re leading by example. When they launched this campaign in 2010, they also launched a few things internally, including looking at better mental health training for employees, and better “return to work” programs for those who had been on mental leave.

The argument that some people have against the campaign and the hashtag, is that Bell shouldn’t need to put their name on it if they really are just trying to do a good deed. But the thing is, smart marketing (which this is) and being a socially responsible corporation with good intentions are not mutually exclusive.

The four pillars of the initiative are ending the stigma, providing better mental health care and access, promoting workplace mental health, and research. Mental health has made progress in each of these areas in recent years, in large part because of Bell. Now, I get that Bell gets something out of this too.

Yes, this is an incredibly smart marketing campaign for Bell. But we simply can’t forget that it’s also done a whole lot of good for people living with mental health issues. People who didn’t want to say anything before, for fear of burdening those around them. People who always pushed it aside, because they were embarrassed or ashamed. It’s not only given a ton of money to support initiatives to help these people — it’s given these people a voice. It’s told them to talk about it, because the people in their life want to hear it. That is the message that Bell is spreading.

And as smart of a marketing campaign as it is, Bell also put themselves out there five years ago, by putting their name on something no one dared talk about. Mental health was and still is very stigmatized. It’s getting better, in part due to Bell’s initiatives, but five years ago when Bell slapped their name on a campaign that told people with mental health issues that Canada wanted them to talk about it, there were no guarantees that Canada would respond. They did, so Bell continued helping millions of people.

Call me naïve, call me too trusting, but in this case; when millions of people are getting the attention they deserve and need, even if it is at the hand of a multi-billion dollar corporation, I’d rather be that than cynical.

This is a great thing people. And it will continue to be a great thing, I’m sure, for years to come. So kudos to Bell for taking a chance, being incredibly smart, and achieving the success that they have for the millions of Canadians living with mental health issues. You deserve those four twitter characters, Bell.

#BellLetsTalk. Those are NOT fighting words.