Male suicide is Australia’s #1 public health problem for men. Statistics show that 1 in 8 men will experience depression in their lifetime and 1 in 5 will suffer from anxiety. But Australian men are notoriously reluctant to reach out for help and talk about their feelings when they’re struggling . Instead, they try to “man up” and keep their problems to themselves. The consequences of this are horrifying: every day in Australia an average of seven men take their own life - over 2500 a year. Our objective was to get men to actively re-evaluate their perceptions of “manliness” and normalise men talking about what they’re going through and so get them to seek help when they need it.

If men in Australia find it so hard to talk about their feelings and ask for help, it’s because our traditional narrative of masculinity says that men have to be strong, that men keep a stiff upper lip in the face of adversity, that they DON’T ask for help when they’re struggling, that they DON’T talk about their feelings, that Boys DON’T Cry. We set out to help free men from this suffocating and dangerous narrative by channeling the power of music - a medium through which, whether it’s rock n roll or rowdy football songs, men have always expressed emotion. In 1979, The Cure released their iconic single Boys Don’t Cry. In 2021, we changed damaging traditional DON’Ts into DO’s by transforming Boys Don’t Cry into Boys do Cry - an anthem to help stop male suicide.

It’s notoriously difficult to reach and hold the attention of Australian males, as they’re sceptical of marketing and tune out things they don’t want to hear. On top of this, we wanted them to do more than just passively observe. We wanted them to actively re-evaluate their perceptions and start a tough conversation about something that makes them uncomfortable: their own feelings and mental health. We knew we had to create a conversation that they wouldn’t just be responsive to, but also felt compelled to carry on. We chose music as our core medium as it is not only culture shaping, but also one of the few ways that men do genuinely feel comfortable sharing their emotions. Using its conventions we created and filmed a song to carry our message, encouraging our audience to reach out and share it with one another in order to normalise and drive help-seeking behaviour.

With the blessing of Robert Smith and The Cure, we rewrote the lyrics, with aboriginal Australian artist Dallas Woods contributing a rap inspired by his experiences with suicide in his community. We brought together a diverse group of men aged 12 to 75 representing Australia’s broad multicultural population to perform the song, and created a music video that lands our campaign line: WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH, GET TALKING. The video launched on social channels, with PR outreach garnering airplay on national television. The call to action drives to a website which provides tools for having potential life saving conversations.

The campaign resonated far beyond its primary audience of Australian men, reaching a total of over 140 million people (almost 5 times the entire Australian population) through earned and paid media. The University of Melbourne’s Centre for Mental Health, led by eminient psychologist and suicide prevention expert Jane Pirkis, ran a study to measure the impact of the Boys Do Cry film on 500 men aged 18 to 87. Among those who viewed it, 51.03% said it increased their intentions to seek help for mental health difficulties. Combined, these results indicate that a sizeable proportion of Australian men have been exposed to the Boys Do Cry campaign, and that over half those who have are now more inclined to reach out for help. By normalising men talking when the going gets tough, we’re making vital progress in the struggle to stop male suicide.