Badgers For Life: Suicide Prevention Campaign

The Badgers for Life campaign is a suicide prevention campaign to raise awareness about college student depression and provide information about services on campus that aim to combat suicide. Depression is an often overlooked prominent issue among college students that I do not see discussed very often on campus. Part of the campaign is targeted at students who are suffering from depression and the other part is targeted at the student body as a whole. Badgers for Life aims to urge students suffering from depression to talk to someone at UHS if they have not done so. Badgers for Life also aims to raise overall awareness about depression and suicide and inform all students of ways they can help prevent suicide. One action that Badgers for Life
aims to promote is for students to contact UHS if help is needed for themselves or someone they know that may be a suicide risk. Ways to contact UHS Mental Health Services will be clearly stated on different pieces of campaign material that will be spread around campus.
Badgers for Life intends to implement a series of persuasion theories in order to successfully prompt people to take action against depression and suicide. One theory that will be implemented throughout the campaign is the Elaboration Likelihood Model. The Elaboration Likelihood Model is a dual processing model that explains how persuasion occurs. One element of the model is that it draws a distinction between two different types of communication processing that occurs in the brain; central and peripheral. Central processing involves careful and thoughtful analysis of the stimuli, whereas peripheral involves using simple cues to guide reaction to stimuli. This campaign will definitely focusing on getting individuals to process the messages centrally. It’s commonly accepted that depression and suicide is a bad thing so we want our target audience to elaborate on that common idea by thoughtfully considering ways they can help themselves or others.
The Elaboration Likelihood Model also explains that people need to have both motivation and ability in order to process a message. There are several reasons to be motivated that are laid out in the theory and my campaign will attempt to provide two of them in order to motivate the target audience. I will use personal relevance and accountability as reasons for my target audience to be motivated to act. The campaign will try to show that depression and suicide is something that a friend could be experiencing in order to make the issue personally relevant for someone who might not think depression is an issue for them to be concerned about. This kind of tactic can also push my target audience to think about their accountability when it comes to a friend or acquaintance who may need help. My campaign will also try to emphasize that students have the ability to act. Many students may not know what to do in a situation involving depression and suicide, so explaining how they can help will be beneficial in getting the students to elaborate on the message.
Another idea based in persuasion research that Badgers for Life intends to implement is Social Proof. Social Proof in relation to persuasion involves adding a proof of social norms in order to strengthen an argument. Social Proof is a good tactic in order to combat pluralistic ignorance. Pluralistic ignorance is the phenomenon where a majority of people are uncertain about what to do in a situation and everyone assumes that others know what to do. My campaign will use this tactic because depression is a sensitive issue and it is not commonly known what people should do when faced with this issue. My campaign will use several statistics regarding mental health and suicide that can help guide people in their actions.
One model derived from persuasion research that will be implemented in my campaign is the Extended Parallel Processing Model (EPPM). EPPM explains how people can be persuaded by using fear. Depression and suicide are scary issues, so it would be useful to use fear effectively. While the goal isn’t exactly to scare people into acting, using fear can create a sense of urgency that may cause the target audience to consider taking action.
According to the Extended Parallel Processing model, the message has to have two things in order to generate a fear response and to aid the target in processing the message centrally. There has to be a severe threat that the audience can be susceptible to, and the proposed action has to be simple enough for the target audience to achieve. Badgers for Life intends to meet these standards in many of the campaign materials.
One final theory that Badgers for Life will be implementing in the campaigns is Social Identity Theory. Social Identity Theory is how people identify through group membership. Loneliness is often associated with depression, which is why I want to implement this theory into my campaign. The campaign will try to identify with those suffering from depression and give them a sense of belonging.
Statistics show that the issue of depression and suicide among college students is in need of being addressed. Healthline reports that approximately 44% of college students report having symptoms of depression, yet about 75% of students do not seek help for mental health problems (Kerr). This shows that there is a significant amount of students who may need to seek help yet they do not. Healthline also states that suicide is the third leading cause of death among college students (Kerr). Students need to know the severity of the issue and my campaign plans on demonstrating it to them.
Badgers for Life will implement a series of campaign materials in order to spread awareness about suicide. One type of campaign material that will be implemented is the use of posters. There will be two different types of posters that will target the two different sections of the campaign’s intended audience. One type of poster will be a poster that targets those who are currently experiencing symptoms of depression that will encourage them to see help (Item 1). The poster will have one major tagline that will stick out to the reader. One tagline that will be used is simply “You’re not Alone.” This kind of tagline is an example of implementing Social Identity Theory because it will give people a sense of group membership. Other taglines will be along the same lines, generally being a positive message. The poster will also feature a close-up of a person’s face, or some other image that will attract attention. These two elements of the poster will be useful in targeting audiences at the precontemplation stage. It will grab the attention of the reader and appeal to the reader’s emotions.
At the bottom of the poster will be a statistic about mental health.
An example would be that 44% of college students report symptoms of depression, as I mentioned earlier. This kind of statistic further implements the Social Identity Theory and also persuades audiences at the contemplation stage. Statistics like these can also act as a social proof to show that there are people out there that seek help if they are experiencing depression, guiding the reader to consider doing the same. There will also be UHS contact information clearly written on the poster, giving students the ability to act. This combined with the motivation of personal relevance should prove to be persuasive according to the Elaboration Likelihood Model. Posters like these will be placed around campus in dorms and
libraries.
Badgers for Life will also implement posters that will target all students, mainly those who are not affected by depression or do not see the need to be concerned about depression.
These posters will have a similar basic format but will have a slightly different tone to the messages (Item 2). The poster will also feature a short message on the poster that will grab the attention of the reader. An example of this would be, “I didn’t think he would take it that far” in quotation marks. This quote will be paired with a picture of a casket or grave. This will also be a tactic to persuade the audience at a precontemplation stage that will appeal to the reader’s emotions. This will also be an implementation of the Extended Parallel Processing model and the Elaboration Likelihood Model. The major implication of this message is that a close friend could commit suicide unexpectedly. This introduces a fearful threat to the audience. The threat insinuates both severity and susceptibility, which are required for persuasion based on EPPM. It also adds personal relevance as a motivation for those who may not think they need to be taught about depression according to
ELM.
Similar to the other poster, this one will also feature different numbers that direct the reader to UHS services. One service that will be particularly emphasized is a phone number that UHS offers for concerned friends and family that would like to talk about someone who could be experiencing depression. This is an action that specifically has response efficacy that is required for persuasion based on the Extended Parallel Processing Model. It also introduces ability to take action to the reader.
The posters will also mention a Badgers for Life Facebook page that will be open to any and all students. The page will allow people to either post about personal experiences with depression or share online content that has to do with depression management. The page will encourage a safe online environment that connects people in a positive way. The admin of the page can control content on the page to make sure that nobody posts anything offensive or harmful. This page will be a strong implementation of Social Judgement Theory, since it is literally creating an online group for people to be a part of. This page will also allow for people to create their own “campaign materials.” It acts as a place where both persuaders and audience members can constantly be interacting. People who may have strong feelings toward this topic can go on the page and provide their own materials to persuade people to seek help or to comfort people suffering from depression. For an example, a person who has suffered from depression can share their story and how they survived depression and got help. This would act as a credible testimony that can be used to persuade the target audience.
The evaluation of the campaign will be done through the Facebook group. A survey will be sent to all those who join the page that will ask questions about the effectiveness of the campaign. Students will be asked if they have seen and or been affected by the posters across campus. They will also be asked if they feel that the Facebook group has been helpful and if the students feel safe on the Facebook group.
The main focus behind Badgers for Life is unification. Students who feel like they are alone can be connected to students who have a passion to help their fellow badgers. Together they can work to help prevent suicide and raise awareness about depression and other mental health issues on campus.