Boycotting Bell Let’s Talk Day

Sadie Jacobs-Peters wants to hide. To avoid Bell Let’s Talk Day on Jan. 30, she has deleted the Instagram app from her phone for the day. She has also muted the term, “Bell Let’s Talk” on her Twitter account, as she did during the campaign last year.

“It was so overwhelming, and it just felt like something I couldn’t escape,” she says, having taken medication for anxiety and depression for nearly five years. “Usually I’m at school and there’s not a whole lot of places to hide … I just don’t like Bell Let’s Talk Day. It can be very painful for a lot of people.”

Bell Canada calls the campaign “the world’s biggest conversation about mental health.” Ellen DeGeneres, Justin Trudeau, Celine Dion and 138 million other people sent messages of support or told personal stories last year using #BellLet’sTalk.

Every time somebody tweets using the hashtag or watches the Bell Let’s Talk video on Instagram or Facebook, and every time a Bell customer makes a phone call or sends a text message on the day, Bell donates five cents to mental health services. Since 2010, the campaign has raised $93 million, one nickel at a time.

However, some people with mental illness, like Jacobs-Peters, try to block out the campaign. On one hand, they say Bell Let’s Talk Day is too intense, as the mass of messages can trigger harmful thoughts. On the other hand, they say the campaign is too lazy, as Canadians can type a short message, call it activism and call it a day.

“It’s really frustrating for me to see all these people with their little hats and their little noisemakers when they’ve never spoken out about mental health up until this day,” says Jacobs-Peters. “For me it’s a year-round process rather than one day that hits hard and can be quite damaging.”

Damage comes from people watering down the terms “anxiety” and “depression,” Jacobs-Peters says. She says the campaign focuses on student athletes and members of student unions, rather than people who do not fit into these groups. Some people might describe being depressed after a few bad days, she says, which could be legitimate but reduces the weight of her own diagnoses.

“Just listening to others I know will trigger a low period for my depression.”

Exclusion

Rebecca Butler, a 22-year-old Halifax woman, says most of the social media posts during the campaign do not address mood and personality disorders. Butler has bipolar disorder. In past years, she has stayed off social media for the day, but this year she plans to post messages criticizing the campaign.

“People will share a nicely packaged post or tweet with their experience with anxiety or depression, and it gets 100 retweets, and people say, ‘this is wonderful; this is what we need to be celebrating,’” Butler says.

“Bell Let’s Talk Day is one of these days that removes the messy edges of mental illness. It boils it down to its simplest form for a capitalist marketing campaign.”

Still, Butler recognizes the benefits of the initiative.

“I understand the other part of the argument – all the good that it brings,” she says. “I’m not someone to say, ‘burn the day down. It has no good.’”

Philanthropy 

In Nova Scotia alone, the campaign has funded the salaries of mental health professionals, the creation of a 12-week online program for people with eating disorders and training in suicide prevention for shelter staff.

Alexa Bagnell, chief of psychiatry at the IWK Health Centre, is a regional expert for Bell Let’s Talk.

“Through the Bell Let’s Talk campaign over the years, I’ve seen much more comfort in people talking about mental illness and sharing their stories,” Bagnell writes in an email.

“Like any awareness day … it can be challenging for some individuals who are affected or who have had significant events in their life related to mental illness.”

Bell appoints ambassadors to speak about their own experiences in speeches and videos. One ambassador is Bruno Guévremont, a veteran who has experienced post-traumatic stress disorder. Despite criticism that Bell uses the campaign to boost its public image, Guévremont says the company deserves credit for funding mental health services.

“Bell is taking that on, and they’re doing a really, really good job, and they want to put their names on it, and they should be recognized,” he says.

On Jan. 29, Guévremont delivered a speech at NSCC. One student at NSCC, Thomas Snooks, has been diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder and dysthymic disorder, which has symptoms that are similar to depression but last longer, according to the Canadian Mental Health Association.

“It can be difficult for people to see a lot of the things that are posted on Bell Let’s Talk Day,” Snooks says, “but I think overall, the openness and the awareness of it is still a good thing.”

Percy Miller, a fourth-year student at Mount Allison University in Sackville, N.B, says the campaign can give people a false sense of being advocates. She has an anxiety disorder, which she describes as high-functioning.

“While I understand that some students use the day/campaign to tell important stories,” Miller writes in an email. “I ultimately worry that it has given people an out in terms of mental health advocacy.”

Bracing for backlash

For Jacobs-Peters, opposing the campaign is worth the expected criticism.

“I don’t want to villainize myself in the eyes of others, but it’s kind of inevitable,” she says. “One of the reasons why it’s so difficult for me to speak out against Bell Let’s Talk is because of the amount of money that’s been raised.”

Last year on Bell Let’s Talk Day, Jacobs-Peters had to find a quiet classroom, call her partner and cry. During most of the year, she cannot anticipate when she will be overwhelmed, but she knows how she will feel on Jan. 30.

“At least this is one time of the year when I know I’m going to have a mental breakdown,” she says, “so I can schedule that in, plan around it.”

About the author

Meagan Campbell

Join the conversation

1. M

   Mel Blanc

   Jan 30, 2019 | 12:00AM
   I have been dealing with members of my family with mental issues all my life. I can tell you that this celebrity infatuation will fade away as quickly as it has arrived...Ellen Oprah and the rest of them are using the issue for their personal gain not to help anybody. The only celebrity that's been honest is Seth and you can see he holds back to be politically correct. This needs to be something more substantial than an opportunity to make Bell seem more humanist.I wonder how many Bell employees have been disciplined or fired for acting out?for being human with all the ugly consequences of that existential challenge. Coporates pawn off these problems to subcontractors in "human resources" another abomination of our business friendly culture and a way for businesses to remove the problem from their balance sheets. I can tell you in business it was always the difficulties of personal ideas and the challenge of human contact and perception that has led to problems at work. Those that can't fit in to this corporate ideology are immediately red lettered and are forced into social services if the're lucky or simply rejected. The mentally ill are not the problem it's us and we're in denial.....How do we take care of Alzheimer patients...Someone has to care for them full time.It's a large commitment but society is barely going to offer any help. It would be alot easier to ask my neighbor to care for her while I go shopping but no it has to be this huge costly infrastructure that doesn't really work very well. It's not the system, it's us that's the problem ,including this corporate whitewash of real issues.All of the shooters that have killed in the last few decades are not just angry but in need of human contact, and yet we are going to do nothing about it.Other than to moronically conclude that they are evil??!!! what??!! Mental health will not improve for us as a society until we can move beyond our understanding that we are a collective not individuals when it comes to these issues,or the environment or politics. It's anathema to us in our selfish state. That's why a boycott is a better choice than buying into these lies. You go girl I boycott with you!!!

2. N

   NA

   Jan 30, 2019 | 12:00AM
   To post an article filled with such negativity on a day that is supposed to be all about positivity, acceptance, and support is beyond me. As someone who has been affiliated with UKC in the past, I feel both sad and ashamed - particularly regarding the wording and picture choice of the author. This is not news. This is not simply “boycotting”/withdrawing from participating in the initiative. This is hateful and harmful to those who have found the courage to speak out about their struggles and/or proudly support others experiencing struggles of their own through this initiative, including the obviously very proud subject of your second photo (which was conveniently paired with the quote about “little hats and noisemakers”). Poor taste. (Also, don’t get me wrong, everyone is entitled to their own coping mechanisms, but I absolutely do not see a need in tearing down an initiative that meant no harm - the opposite in fact. If she finds this day to be a trigger for her, I support her decision to withdraw herself from participation, but there is no excuse for blatantly belittling other people’s claims of mental illness, as if they shouldn’t be taken as seriously as hers). End of rant.

• N

  Nikki

  Feb 1, 2019 | 12:00AM
  I think we took away two different things from reading this. I don't think, in any way they are belittling others' mental health journeys or experiences... more how people have turned serious health issues into colloquialisms. "Oh I am so depressed!" when one has a bad day, makes light of those who truly do suffer from depression, or people talking about anxiety disorders that they don't actually have. People saying they are OCD-ing over something, when they don't ACTUALLY have OCD... all of these things minimize those who truly experience, and battle, these issues daily. Maybe a boycott isn't the best way to deal with it... but I look at the good and the bad of this day. Sure Bell is trying to help... and maybe they have helped thousands of people, but for those who are still falling through the cracks, this day brings more of those who minimize our experiences, and to hear people "talk" about issues they don't actually have, can be a triggering experience to some. To hear some people talk about their anxiety, or depression, or OCD tendancies when they don't really suffer from these things can make those who do feel like their struggles are unimportant.

3. m

   mike

   Jan 30, 2019 | 12:00AM
   This about sums it up "Some people might describe being depressed after a few bad days, she says, which could be legitimate but reduces the weight of her own diagnoses." It's all about her, her, her. Gimme a break.

4. S

   ST

   Jan 30, 2019 | 12:00AM
   How dare you post a photo of a girl wearing a Bell Let’s Talk hat, WITHOUT consent. How dare you make the assumption that she doesn’t also struggle with her mental health every single day. How dare you leave this up after she asked you to remove it. This day is for showing support to those who struggle with mental illness and should be kept positive. This article is doing the opposite by making assumptions about a pretty girl in a hat. You are bullying and this should be taken down. Pathetic.

• T

  Terra Tailleur

  Feb 1, 2019 | 12:00AM
  Editor’s note: The reporter obtained consent from the source to take the photo.

5. R

   RS

   Jan 30, 2019 | 12:00AM
   Making the assumption that a pretty girl wearing a Bell Let's Talk hat doesn't support or care about the cause is wrong. Posting a picture of her mocking her "little hat" is wrong. You have no idea what anyone else goes through or why she is wearing that hat. This is bullying, and this article should be deleted. Try looking at things from a more positive perspective.