Plaster the Silence

Background

Every day, more than one person commits suicide in Singapore. But the truth is, suicide is preventable and the first step is to start talking about it. However, most people don't know how (or even want) to broach such a taboo subject. The task was to turn every Singaporean into the first line of defence against suicide, by looking out for their friends and family members.

Idea

Since Singaporeans were reluctant to talk about suicide, the idea was to create something to help start the conversation: a simple black plaster. Worn on the inner wrist, it asks, "How are you?" Because just as you'd ask someone wearing a plaster if he or she was all right, preventing suicide starts with a question. 50,000 plasters were distributed to everyone on World Suicide Prevention Day, and people were encouraged to post a photo using the hashtag #howru. The hashtag helped spread the message further, and got more people talking about suicide on social media – thus amplifying the message and reach. (To view the work, visit http://awards.our-idea.net/sos/howru/)

Results

The campaign culminated on 10 September, when the plasters were distributed. In just 48 hours:

• #howru became Singapore's top trending topic on Twitter
• Celebrities and influencers got involved for free, including the former President of Singapore
• Generated some 4.5 million impressions
• Tens of thousands of photos and posts shared
• Nearly 3,000% increase in visits to SOS site
• Picked up by mainstream media like TODAY, Channel News Asia and LUSH 99.5FM – all with no media spend. And most importantly, it helped open countless conversations.