Marketing & Communications

New Campaign Supports Mental Health, Tells 2020 How We Really Feel About It

Today, social impact agency Public Inc. launched a digital campaign in support of mental health — and a bitingly funny, cathartic send-off to acknowledge the dumpster fire of a year we've all had.

Published 3 years ago | About a 2 minute read

Image: Public Inc./YouTube

The FU 2020 campaign, which describes itself as “a ‘f*** you’ for a cause,” laundry lists some of the lowlights from the year — including COVID-19 and all of its ripple effects, the police officers who murdered Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, the celebrities who died this year, and murder hornets!

As the agency's holiday campaign in support of a cause, FU2020 (see the uncensored version here) drives donations to the Mental Health Coalition in the US and the Black Health Alliance in Canada.

“We created #EFF2020 holiday campaign to acknowledge what so many of us have been feeling — 2020 has been one effing bad year,” Public Inc founder and CEO Phillip Haid told Sustainable Brands in an email. “So, why remind people of it with a holiday campaign? Because despite all the challenges so many of us have endured this past year, there is still room for optimism and joy — and our mental health depends on it. This is why we decided to create a campaign that reflects what many people are feeling and thinking, and channel it into a fundraiser for mental health organizations.

“Creatively, we aimed to entertain to break through the noise and drive donations for two worthy organizations,” Haid added. “We know laughter is the best medicine — so we served up a dose of realism with a sense of humor, and a silver lining that things will get better as we head into 2021.”

Haid said Public Inc chose to support The Mental Health Coalition in the US, because of its incredible work to end the devastating impact of stigma surrounding mental health; and Canada’s Black Health Alliance, because of its impactful work to improve the health and well-being of black communities. Both organizations take a collaborative, partnership-based approach to achieve results — something we need a lot more of in this world.