It’s almost #BellLetsTalk Day, and I have a confession:
I hate the #BellLetsTalk haters.
You know who I’m talking about. The people who, instead of taking the day to focus on mental health, spend the day focusing on any and all flaws with the campaign they can find.
“Bell is just going to donate the money anyway.”
“The campaign fails to acknowledge the social conditions that create mental distress.”
“They just do it for the tax break.”
“It’s unethical for a large corporation to leverage emotional, highly personal stories for their gain.”
“It’s just a corporate PR stunt.”
Some of those statements might be true. Some of them might be false. All of them don’t matter.
Let’s be serious. No one is out there arguing that Bell has created the perfect initiative with #BellLetsTalk Day. This initiative is not going to solve all of our mental health and illness issues in one fell swoop (and it never claims to). It’s not our knight in shining armour. But it is going to get people talking. It creates conversation. It involves people who aren’t talking about mental health regularly. And it creates an environment where many people feel safe sharing their story.
With #BellLetsTalk Day, Bell is doing something that many people never do. They’re trying. They’re taking action. They are putting themselves out there and making something happen. We’re all so good at criticizing the campaigns and efforts of other people, but are simultaneously doing nothing ourselves.
So no, it’s not perfect. But really, what is? If we never participated in anything that was flawed, we would likely never participate in anything at all.
So please. Stop hating on #BellLetsTalk.
Stop hating on those who help.
