The F.A’s gambling problem: When mental health campaigns & cultures collide
What an inspiring weekend in the F.A Cup 3rd round. The English Football Association partnered with Heads Up and Every Mind Matters, to raise awareness of mental health to football fans across the country. Once again, our esteemed royalty used their voice to open the conversation and break down the stigma; this time, recorded over images of soccer megastars like Deli Ali and Son Heung-min, engaged in warm embraces of brotherhood. Opposing fans united in a shared appreciation of addressing these issues, in a wonderfully executed campaign to get people talking.
Then, things turned a bit sour. After the campaign, the Daily Mail reported that 23 of the 32 games being played that weekend, could only be viewed through the website of online betting company, Bet365 — and only once customers had signed up for an account, or placed a bet. The move was said to be in direct conflict with the core message of the mental health campaign; referring not only to the widely noted mental health problems, which are shown to be associated with gambling — such as addiction, depression, substance misuse and even suicide — but also the clever marketing techniques above, used by Bet365, to hook people in.
The F.A has claimed that the agreement with Bet365 is a long-term one, which they’ve agreed to review. But the pressure is on. The move was labelled an “own goal” by the NHS’ Director of Mental Health, while one MP accused the F.A of “making money from misery”.
Ouch. The situation presents a conundrum for the F.A, who were attempting to use their influence to raise awareness of the very problems their chosen partners are said to cause. The F.A wants to do good things for society — but let’s not forget — this is a business. Just as we’ve seen across environmental issues, diversity & inclusion or workers’ rights in developing countries — addressing social concerns like mental health, doesn’t always fit with the end goal of profit and growth.
This is an example of a problem that can be seen within the broader picture of corporate mental health and even mental health in society, at large. The problem is that, as much as we attempt to resolve the mental health crisis, the long-held systems and cultures in place mean we’re limited on the impact our solutions can have.
The broad range of mental health initiatives on offer to corporations, can indeed be highly effective; but are, ultimately, a sticking plaster. A band aid, as our american cousins might say. A surface level solution, to a far deeper problem.
In fairness, we’re in relatively early days of what is a significant wave of a mental health movement. Until fairly recently, to even speak openly in the mainstream about mental health was considered weird. Now you can’t go a day without hearing about it, which we all hope, is helping to remove the stigma in the public domain.
Furthermore, now that brands and corporations are getting on board, there’s potential for this to spread far wider; with their influence, internally and externally, to create healthy working cultures and promote mental health to their audiences.
But equally, for many of these companies — and beyond — there are greater issues that need addressing, that a workplace mental health programme or consumer app, will be fighting an uphill battle to resolve.
For example, if an account manager and her team, in a competitive services industry like advertising, are running on burnout — but the client deadline is non-negotiable — what happens then?
If a consumer downloads a meditation app, but is still bombarded by 4,000 advertising messages daily and an endless newsfeed of other people’s seemingly perfect lives — how much impact can it really have on their self-esteem?
The current mental health movement is incredibly encouraging and the companies getting on board are groundbreaking in their work. If we think back to where we were at the beginning of the last decade, the evolution and progress has been phenomenal.
So what for the next decade? Can we move beyond the sticking plaster effect and begin to solve the greater problems society holds for mental health?
One step at a time. The answers are far from straightforward and, as this movement continues to progress, the answers it provides are often accompanied by more questions. But in order to move towards solving these issues, perhaps we might start by addressing both sides of the coin, as to what businesses and technology are doing for mental health and fitness. Both the innovation and the exploitation. The campaigns which promote mental wellbeing and the campaigns which harm it. The workplace initiatives which alleviate stress and the office cultures which cause it.
For businesses to truly offset their mental health footprint, they must address the issue holistically, from a range of angles. While the F.A should be lauded for using its influence to promote better mental health, it must also address where that influence is part of the problem.
This can be said about all major corporations. As the mental health conversation continues to grow and awareness increases, this will inevitably become a greater consideration for them and one to start thinking about now; extending mental health beyond the HR department, to communications, operations and beyond, for mental health to become a consideration that is woven into the fabric of the business.
If you’re interested to read more about what businesses and technology are doing for mental health — and what we, as individuals, can do for our own — subscribe to the Monday State of Mind newsletter — 5 weekly bullets of news, insights, campaigns and opinion, here: https://www.richgoddard.co/monday-state-of-mind
