Self Harm: Cut it out

Article about the UK authorities' stance on self-harm, new campaigns to reduce stigma.  This article is fascinating because it is decidedly ANTI-self-harm, and ANTI-stigma-reduction.  Quotes:

 

"The UK medical authorities are sending the message that young people hurting themselves is an acceptable lifestyle choice."

"It is a sign of a sick society when young people start turning to self-harm to work through their emotional problems. But it is an even sicker society in which medical and political authorities give sanction to their actions." 

"In March 2004, the Mental Health Foundation and Camelot Foundation launched an inquiry at the House of Commons looking into self-harm in young people, which was backed by MPs from across the political spectrum. The inquiry’s website cheerfully announces its aim to ‘educate and raise awareness about self-harm - for everyone!’. By ‘shifting culture’, it wants to move ‘towards a more flexible, user-focused, non-alienating, “no-blame” culture for young people who have experience of self-harm’ (3)."

"Michael Maher, a group analyst, tells me that when he first started working in the area of self-harm 17 years ago, it was seen as an ‘exotic behaviour’. Now, he said, it has become part of people’s vocabulary: ‘if you’re going to choose a language of distress, self-harm is part of the menu of choices that people use for expressing distress.’ The issue has become part of popular culture: for example, there was a recent story about self-harm inHollyoaks, the soap for young people. We also hear about celebrities who have harmed themselves, such as Johnny Depp and Princess Diana - which prompted the MSN self-harm discussion group to set up a section entitled ‘Your [sic] not alone - celebs who SH’ (5)."

"But self-harm needs to keep its ‘stigma’, in the sense that we shouldn’t forget that there is something deeply wrong with it. Giving self-harm official sanction as a ‘coping mechanism’ is only likely to entrench the practice, and make it more acceptable. "

Read more here.

Pepsi Suicide Ads

Advertising Age has a comment on the (now pulled) Pepsi Suicide Ads, using, well, here's their description:

"There's but one calorie in PepsiMax and, as we know, one is the loneliest number. So it only makes sense that a new flight of print ads from BBDO Dusseldorf show a cute but sad little personification of a calorie committing suicide in a few ultraviolent ways, including a gunshot, a hanging, self-immolation and even slitting his little blue wrist with a razor blade. "

Each image gives several different methods.  Why the 'overkill'?

Also gives comment on the GM 'Robot Suicide' ad that ran a few years back, with a link to the EDITED VERSION after people spoke out.  Power to the people?

COMMENTS:

"These days it's pretty easy to offend anyone. I for one really think these ads are cute :)

quite like the suicidal robot marvin from hitchhiker's. Maybe if they did away with stuff like blades and blood people would get off their back." (Interesting...the blood is the concern? Talking about pain and symbolic markers...)

"Fantastic ads. Something different to the regular boring stuff we've grown accustomed to. And anyway you can see far worse on Cartoon Network. That said, I guess with everyone feeling a little sensitive about violence post-Mumbai, the timing is probably not as cool as it could have been. Pity." (The 'Violence is Everywhere' defense)