Suicide prevention charity Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) is shining a spotlight on the deeply troubling issue of youth suicide with another harrowing instalment in its ‘Missed Birthdays’ campaign.
Made possible by funding from the Iceland Foods Charitable Foundation (IFCF) and devised by London-based creative agency Adam&EveDDB, the campaign is centred around a heartrending two minute spot that shares a real story about youth suicide.
The film tells the tragic story of a young girl named Evelyn who took her own life at the age of 15. We get to know her through a series of poignant home videos, with her own mother providing narration.
With media planning and buying handled by The7stars, this latest campaign burst will be pushed out across cinema, TV, video-on-demand and social media over the next four weeks.
“It is unacceptable that we have lost 6,929 young people to suicide in the last decade. Behind that stark statistic are real people, and thousands of families going through the unimaginable pain of losing a child,” CALM CEO, Simon Gunning said.
“We at CALM want to thank every single person that has generously shared their story with the Missed Birthdays campaign to date, and to Evelyn’s parents for the courage they have shown in allowing us to help tell their story in this new film. With their help, we’re urging absolutely everyone to save, share and bookmark the C.A.R.E. Kit. We all have a role to play in ending youth suicide. By starting life-saving conversations, we can all do our bit to help a young person find a way forward and make sure they never think that suicide is their only option.”
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The work also draws attention to alarming figures which reveal that as many as 6,929 young people (15-24 years old) have taken their own lives across the UK from 2012 to 2022.
Like the campaign’s first instalment, the film directs viewers to the charity’s CALM C.A.R.E. Kit, an online resource and suite of practical tools that enable parents and trusted adults to play an active role in helping to prevent youth suicide.
Adam&EveDDB ECDs Ant Nelson and Mike Sutherland added: “This emotional campaign serves as a powerful reminder of the impact of youth suicide on families and friends.
“Evelyn’s story is one that will stay with us and we thank her family for sharing their memories of her with us. We hope that anyone who sees this film will be motivated to use CALM’s tools to support the young people in their lives who might be struggling.”
