
ALT Poster: How do advertisements reflect metanarratives and counternarratives surrounding mental health? Ella Houston, Liverpool Hope University 25th January 1.00-2.00pm (GMT) via zoom. To register: [email protected] In recent years, especially since the Covid-19 pandemic, messages surrounding mental health have proliferated in advertisements. Promotional campaigns for high-profile brands, such as Maltesers' (2021) '#TheMassiveOvershare' and Maybelline's (2020) 'Brave Together', focus on issues such as challenging stigma surrounding mental health issues and "starting conversations" about people's mental health states and wellbeing. Societal understandings of mental health issues are also heavily influenced by direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertisements and public health advertising campaigns. This presentation critiques the common assumption that making mental health issues more visible in popular culture solves the problem of stigma.

























