Francesca specialises in way of life analysis, drawing from her expertise of market evaluation, market analysis and information of shopper traits.
1 November marks the start of Movember, a month-long marketing campaign that arrives yearly within the type of your male buddies, members of the family and colleagues sporting a moustache (with various ranges of success). The light-hearted makes an attempt to develop further facial fuzz does, in fact, have a extra critical and well-meaning trigger at coronary heart: searching for to boost consciousness and funds for male well being points together with mental well being, suicide preventation, prostate and testicular most cancers.
Charities equivalent to Movember and CALM have made nice progress in opening up the dialog and decreasing a number of the stigma connected to male mental well being, however there may be nonetheless an extended technique to go. Here, we’ll have a look at a number of the points inflicting most concern to males, and what brands can do to assist them.
Gen Z are most reluctant to open up about mental well being
The excellent news is that our analysis discovered that the majority males are comfy speaking about mental well being. Six in 10 males really feel comfy speaking to a health care provider about this. Perhaps most reassuring is that there isn’t a actual distinction in how comfy males are to speak in confidence to a health care provider about bodily or mental well being.
The charity Movember funds males’s well being initiatives all over the world, and goals to remodel the best way well being companies attain and assist males. Source: Movember.
Willingness to speak about mental well being falls to 40% of Gen Z (18-25) males, nonetheless. Gen Z have been branded the technology extra open and accepting of mental well being points, but it surely doesn’t essentially imply they’re extra empowered to hunt help. While it’s true that some Gen Zers are extra prepared to share their considerations, similar to many stereotypes round Gen Z, it doesn’t ring true for everyone.
As documented in Mintel’s Trend Open Diary, although, we do know that Gen Z are loud and proud on social media, even when discussing extra critical and private matters. Most men aged 18-24 think it’s much easier to talk about stress and wellbeing with someone online than in person. Like many facets of their life, Gen Z males really feel extra comfy on-line than off.
Young males have an extended listing of anxieties
What makes youthful males’s reluctance to talk to a health care provider most regarding is that they report poorer mental well being than older teams. Nearly a fifth aged 18-34 describe their mental health as somewhat or very unhealthy and so they report extra components inflicting them stress and nervousness.
The pandemic took its toll on younger adults, who had been already dealing with the extreme stress of residing in an always-connected digital world. The affect of social media additionally can’t be overstated. Social media is overloaded with edited pictures of influencers and celebrities, pushing unrealistic physique requirements and ‘lifestyle goals’. It is probably unsurprising then that physique picture considerations are the highest trigger of hysteria for Gen Z males.
Life-stage particular considerations
Men face various totally different stressors throughout their lives. For 18-24 12 months olds, insecurities are dominated by physique picture and relationships. When males attain their mid-twenties, funds grow to be, and keep, the largest trigger of hysteria till their mid-sixties. Importantly, these cash considerations will solely be exacerbated by the revenue squeeze many households are at the moment dealing with with inflation at a 40-year excessive.
Millennial males, particularly, are anxious about work, whereas over-65s grow to be more and more involved about their bodily well being.
What does this imply for brands?
In the short-term, digital channels are going to be the best way to assist Gen Z males. Mental well being and wellbeing assist provided via digital channels – whether or not this be via an app, on-line remedy or through texting – will likely be key to supporting this technology, the place they can entry help from the consolation and safety of their smartphone.
For instance, BetterHelp, a web-based counselling and remedy platform, has proved common amongst younger adults. Users are matched with a mental well being skilled and can textual content, web-chat, telephone or video name them. Going a step additional, various apps and on-line platforms have begun providing assist from therapists generated totally by synthetic intelligence – one thing we’re prone to see extra of sooner or later.
Betterhelp proves common amongst younger adults – the digital platform makes it straightforward for customers to hunt help and recommendation from mental well being professionals. Source: Betterhelp.
But actually, mental well being conversations should be out within the open
While on-line mental well being assist can present a short-term resolution, it doesn’t tackle the larger situation of males not feeling capable of speak about their feelings brazenly.
Brands can help destigmatise mental well being by bringing the dialog into public areas. For instance, Gymshark opened Deload, a barbershop with mental health-trained barbers providing free haircuts as a part of a week-long marketing campaign in July 2022. NIVEA Men can be serving to create a supportive atmosphere via its Head Skill Academy, a soccer coaching camp that allows grassroots workforce captains to include ‘mental fitness’ into their groups.
Brands must additionally create comparable secure areas throughout society – at gyms, cafes, workplaces and pubs – to additional the progress in addressing male mental well being within the open.
Gymshark Deload’s Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) affords useful guides and recommendation to forestall suicides within the UK. Source: Gymshark.
Men want tailor-made mental well being assist
Mental well being assist companies and brands want to supply tailor-made assist to males on the problems that the majority concern them. For instance, assist with managing monetary pressures, constructing wholesome relationships and selling a constructive physique picture, built-in with common wellbeing assist.
Brands can take cues from mindfulness app, Headspace, which addresses the hyperlink between cash and mental well being via its ‘Mindful Money’ content material. The toolkit contains recommendation, workout routines and meditations to assist monetary wellness and encourage compassion when managing funds. Similarly, the platform gives particular meditations for encouraging a wholesome angle in direction of your physique, coping with local weather nervousness, and help for fogeys, to call a couple of.
By supporting males via way of life considerations, brands can alleviate a few of their anxieties and allow them to proactively handle their mental well being, in addition to constructing trusting relationships with clients.
What we predict
While male mental well being is more and more being mentioned within the media, at work, and by brands, the severity and scale of the issue nonetheless stays. Charities and brands want to supply sensible options to assist males’s wellbeing and help create open and secure environments throughout society, the place males really feel empowered to speak about their mental well being.