There are many reasons why people suffer from mental health issues. As well as helping people cope with their issues, we need to look at the causes and see how they can be addressed. In discussions I have had with numerous people including a doctor, one potential cause in the future, if not now, is advertising. It seems we can’t do anything today without advertising poking its ugly head into our brains. We are constantly bombarded with ads whenever we watch anything on television, especially sport. Post-game press conferences the same. We ring a company and get a recorded message saying the call is important etc and then we have to listen to a constant barrage of advertising for several minutes. Reading articles online is a pain as they constantly dance about the page, mainly to distract you so you see the ads. Harvey Norman started its current ad campaign with full page ads that could be removed and thrown out. They woke up to that and are placing full page ads so that the reverse side of the page is not an ad but articles such as sport. The advertising companies need to take some responsibility before it becomes more serious. If I can get annoyed when making a phone call to the point that I want to throw the phone across the room – that’s a serious issue for me and I am sure that I am not that unique to be alone. And I have no doubt that the advertising companies are looking at further ways to expand how they bombard us with ads. Time to act now.
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