Why Blue Monday - when ‘bullshit stumbles upon reality’ - could earn over ￡300,000 for mental health charities

Blue Monday is my baby.

And it’s ‘Blue Monday’ season starting on Monday January 15th, the third Monday of January - symbolically the most depressing day of the year. And yes, it did grow out of a ‘marketing gimmick’ but guess what? There is now evidence it may have some substance - but you will need an open and agile mind to consider its merits.

Yes, the story had bastard origins when in 2005, from a news release created by a London PR agency promoting Sky travel, claimed that a scientific formula, defined by the psychologist Cliff Arnall as the third Monday of January, is ‘the most depressing day of the year’.

I piggy-backed on the story, to promote my creative thinking training, with a response of ‘You don’t need to be depressed on this day if you follow my 7 Point Plan’ and gained great media coverage, including a TV appearance.

Recognising the story had potential to be repeated each year, when told by the London PR agency that they had no plans to repeat the story I asked if could still use it, and they said ‘Yes’. I asked Dr. Arnall (a great guy by the way) for his permission to use the Formula and he also said ‘Yes’.

So, in 2006, creatively thinking how I can add extra spark to the idea, I coined the meme ‘Blue Monday’ to label the ‘symbolically the most depressing day of the year’ and sought to link the idea to promote charitable mental well-being causes.

Since then, of its own vim, vigour, and voracity, it continues to grow. A highlight for me was when one year Gary Lineker on ‘Match of the Day’ even mentioned it.

This is where ‘bullshit stumbles upon reality’

The story’s viral quality and durability provides real tangible evidence, in the transmission of the meme, that it somehow meets an inner desire for people to respond what is perceived as a dreary, dull, and for some, miserable time in the calendar.

People only pass on memes if it meets an emotional need.

We now have ‘data’, evidence, albeit of an informal, indirect kind that Blue Monday has stumbled upon a previously undefined modern phenomena, a zeitgeist, a mood of a time, an under-the-surface feeling people share.

The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle is well-known for explaining how to influence anyone you need to manage the logos - facts, pathos - emotions - and ethos - credibility of the speaker to be successful. What’s less known is his concept of ‘kairos’ - the time is right for the communication.

I may not be Mother Theresa but if I can do good, I will. I haven’t made a bean out of Blue Monday meme. I conceived the idea to use the date to promote mental well-being. In its first year, we teamed up with the Samaritans and gained significant media coverage for them.

I sincerely believe that if mental health charities seize the opportunity presented by ‘Blue Monday’ they could easily raise the equivalent of just 1% of the ￡30 million plus raised by Comic Relief through its Red Nose Day efforts.

‘Blue Monday’ created an opportunity for anyone with a sincere interest in promoting greater mental well-being: you don’t have to go the outside world to try and get them to start talking about mental health - they’re already doing so via ‘Blue Monday’.

But a network of scientists opposed the idea. There was even a sex psychotherapist who railed against the idea, providing me with an unusual claim to fame of being named in her blog. No mental health charity would subsequently go near the idea.

Blue Monday can create a precious talking point and potential media hook for subjects which face difficulty getting a hearing, such as mental health, depression, or suicide.

It also creates a welcome opportunity for positive well-being and asserting happiness and joy in the world.

One year I listened to a local BBC Radio station which played a series of uplifting, good mood enhancing songs on Blue Monday, but also had a live outside broadcast from a school where youngsters had their jokes aired, (“Why did the chicken cross the playground? To get to the other slide!” was a typical effort.)

The show later got a text from a woman, who was foster mother to one of the children who had their jokes broadcast. She was delighted how it had boosted the youngster’s confidence and self-esteem.

Doesn’t that make you feel good?

We now have facts of the Blue Monday meme transmission. Why is it popular? Because it is evidently meeting a previously undefined mood, zeitgeist, spirit of the time. Sometimes there are inconvenient truths. And Blue Monday could now be one of them.

You can ignore Blue Monday, dismiss it as ‘bad science’ (even though it is only described as the ‘symbolically’ the most depressing day) or claim its Fake News. But are you guilty of a closed, inflexible mind, shutting yourself off from new evidence? Or can you regard Blue Monday as a power for good?

Please do enjoy yourself over the coming Blue Mondays. I know I will.

#BlueMonday #MentalHealth #Samaritans #Mentalwellbeing #FakeNews #mostdepressingday

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