Tuesday, October 15, 2024

Al-Futtaim Honda - or how to talk about mental health without preaching

Is it possible? Could someone in the Arab region have cracked the code of how to talk about mental health without being condescending, without the stigma, without the preaching? I am not inventing gunpowder when I say that mental health is not just a taboo but is also dismissed in the Arab region at large and often mixed with "se7r" (magic) and "cured" by talismans instead of being taken seriously and people visiting proper therapists for it. Yet here we are Al-Futtaim Honda comes with an elegant, purposely understated at for the World Mental Health Day, which - thankfully - does not focus on the car with a copy which - at first - refers to the machine, and which works in a bi-linguist fashion. Only for the reveal to come by - that perhaps the problem is not in the car which puts the earlier sentences back into perspective. A brilliant, minimalist ad, which - of course might not erase all the "shame" associated with mental health and therapy in the Arab region - is a wonderful baby steps. See the ad here.