Learning from global mental health ads
What does a Happy Meal without a smile say?
In 2023, McDonald’s UK launched The Meal, a mental health campaign that removed the iconic smile from millions of Happy Meal boxes. No dramatic visuals. No grand tagline. Just one powerful message: it’s okay not to feel happy all the time. Especially for children.
For a brand built around joy, this move felt honest and deeply unsettling. It used branding itself as the message, not a distraction from it. “McDonald’s made a bold, visual statement,” says Prardhana Chillarige, Creative Director at Gozoop Creative. “In a world where brands often over-index on positivity, this campaign dared to lean into discomfort without making it difficult to understand.”
And that’s the thing. Many global mental health ads don’t try to simplify the subject. They sit with their discomfort. They speak plainly and directly.
Dipshika Ravi, National Creative Director at Schbang, recalls The Last Photo campaign from the UK that showed smiling images of people in the days before they died by suicide. No dramatic voiceover. No emotional manipulation. Just everyday moments, asking us to rethink what we think we know about who’s struggling. “It shattered the stereotype that someone struggling always looks a certain way,” she says. “It made you want to check in on your friends. That’s the kind of impact a campaign should create.”
So what happens when we compare this to how Indian brands approach the same subject?
We see longer films. Poetic voiceovers. A chai cup, a metaphor, a message that arrives slowly, carefully. In India, mental health is often spoken about in symbols. Mitul Shah, Founder and CCO of Calculated Chaos, puts it bluntly: “Globally: ‘Here’s how I felt. Here’s how I asked for help.’ India: ‘Here’s a 7-minute film where the camera stares into a chai cup while a voiceover reads a poem.’”
Why is that?
Part of the reason lies in where we are, culturally. Mental health in India is still not a fully mainstream conversation. So when we talk about it in ads, we tend to speak softly, metaphorically. “Indian ads are more layered and indirect,” says Chillarige. “They reflect a cultural lens where mental health is still finding acceptance.”
But subtle doesn’t always mean ineffective. Indian campaigns like Mirinda’s #ReleaseThePressure, which used open letters from students to their parents to showcase the mental strain that exams can create on kids.
Or Bournvita’s Get The Message campaign, which cleverly showed how we overlook children’s struggles.
These campaigns prove that you don’t need shock to move people. You need honesty. Familiarity. Emotional truth.
That’s why Dipshika Ravi sees the tide turning. “We’re learning how to strike the right balance between awareness and storytelling,” she says. “Take Zomato’s recent chai campaign—it addressed mental health through something as ordinary as a tea break.”
So the question is no longer whether India can talk about mental health. It’s how we choose to do it.
Do we dramatise it? Do we dress it up in metaphors? Or can we learn from the restraint and emotional clarity that global campaigns are leaning into?
Because if we want our ads to make a difference, they have to do more than make noise. They have to make people feel seen.
The creative tightrope
For creatives, the challenge isn’t just in what to say, but how to say it, especially in a country where the audience is emotionally diverse and brands are often hesitant to fully commit.
Prardhana Chillarige points out the double bind that creatives often face. “We’re often speaking to two Indias at once: one where mental health is still dismissed with phrases like ‘Aise kuch hota nahi hai’, and another where a younger, more self-aware generation is actively prioritising their emotional wellbeing.”
And the result is storytelling that must act as a bridge that is sensitive enough not to alienate, but clear enough to push the conversation forward.
And even when the intent exists, the creative freedom doesn’t always follow. Mitul Shah summarises the paradox. “We want to talk about mental health… but nothing dark.” It’s the kind of brief that demands vulnerability, but only the Instagram-friendly kind. “Let mental health ads be awkward, unpolished, maybe even uncomfortable,” Shah says. “That’s what makes them believable.”
“There’s also the fear of backlash,” says Dipshika Ravi. “Many brands are hesitant to touch the topic... they want to stay in the space of ‘positivity’, which restricts them from highlighting topics like mental health.”
But mental health isn’t always positive. It’s messy. Conflicted. Uneasy. And yet, that’s exactly why it matters. “Mental health isn’t about being inspirational,” Mitul Shah adds. “It’s about being real. And real isn’t always pretty.”
For all three creatives, the ask is simple.
- Let campaigns hold space for discomfort.
- Don’t sanitise sadness.
- Don’t reduce anxiety to a metaphor.
- Don’t script away silence.
- And most importantly, stop scripting briefs like TED Talks.
“What we need,” Dipshika Ravi says, “is not just good storytelling, but honest storytelling. Campaigns that don’t just tick boxes, but allow people to feel seen.”
How can creative folks do better?
In Indian advertising, conversations around mental health are still in their initial stages. A bit fragile and often surface-level. So, how can the industry push for meaningful mental health narratives in a system that is wierd for brand safety?
It begins with intent.
Prardhana Chillarige suggests a powerful shift in perspective. She says, “In this age of creating ‘clutter-breaking’ ad campaigns, agencies need to shift their lens from ‘How do we stand out?’ to ‘How do we make someone feel seen?’”
This question, ‘how do we make someone feel seen’, is at the heart of every mental health story. And perhaps, that’s what creatives need to remember. You’re not just crafting content; you’re offering someone, somewhere, the comfort of recognition. A moment of human connection. A line, a visual, a scene that makes them think, ‘Oh. I’m not alone in this.’
Chillarige adds, “Before we are creatives, we are people—and that’s where the work must begin. Treat mental health not as a campaign, but as a cultural responsibility.”
This idea that we are people first is what Dipshika Ravi suggests as well. She urges brands and creatives to ‘listen’ first. Not to win awards. Not to craft a ‘good story’. But to understand. She says, “Speak to people who have lived the experience. Listen without judgment and without the lens of what makes a good ad.”
Too often, mental health ads go to extremes, either they’re too dramatic or they feel too polished and distant. Dipshika Ravi offers a different approach, to be subtle and honest. “Let the story do the work… sometimes, the most powerful mental health narratives come from the mundane—like a bad day at work, a lonely lunch, or the silence after a conversation.”
It’s in these small, everyday moments that mental health really lives. Not in big breakdowns, but in the quiet in-betweens, the cancelled plans, the long pauses, the feelings we don’t always say out loud. Ads that show these moments truthfully often stay with us the longest.
While creatives often lead the way in shaping these stories, Ravi reminds that brands need to be part of the effort too. “Mental health is a universal concern… encourage your brand partners to engage with it meaningfully—you never know the impact it can create.”
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