By Andrea Michelson --> A screaming baby. Stretch marks. Crying in the shower. These harsh realities of early motherhood are too often kept secret, but a new public service announcement out today from the Ad Council aims to bring them into the light.
Ahead of World Mental Health Day, the Ad Council launched “What’s Her Secret?”, a suite of PSAs meant to encourage new and expecting mothers to prioritize their mental health. The maternal mental health effort, known overall as The Secret to Motherhood , is a part of the Council’s wider “Love, Your Mind” campaign for mental health awareness.
In a PSA created pro-bono by Mischief USA, a group of women gather in the park to catch up, asking questions like “How do you make it look so easy?” to one new mom. She answers the question with some consideration, citing her consistent routine and support system, all while the sleepless nights and daily struggles play on a loop in her head.
When the chaos in her mind reaches a peak, the dialogue fades away and a voice-over kicks in, concluding: “There is no secret to motherhood. There are only secrets we’re keeping about it.”
Maternal mental health conditions are extremely common. At least one in five mothers report symptoms of depression or anxiety during the postpartum period, according to the Maternal Mental Health Leadership Alliance . However, three-quarters of those women do not receive treatment for their mental health and the consequences are often a matter of life and death. Suicide and overdose resulting from mental health conditions are a leading cause of death for new mothers in the US, accounting for 27.7 perecent of pregnancy-related deaths in 2022, according to the CDC’s most recent report on maternal mortality prevention.
With The Secret to Motherhood PSAs, the Ad Council aims to reach women in the often-vulnerable early stages of motherhood and direct them to access expert-vetted resources at LoveYourMind.com/moms , a new hub for maternal mental health.
From a creative standpoint, the campaign challenges the pressure that many moms feel to be perfect, instead inviting them to speak up about the emotionally complex realities of pregnancy and early motherhood, and to seek support when needed.
Bianca Guimaraes, founding partner and executive creative director at Mischief USA, shared her own experience with postpartum depression in a press release for the project. She described pushing the stroller through the park for hours to pass the time, envying the freedom and independence of the childless people she saw on her way.
“Those were thoughts I didn’t feel like I could say out loud,” Guimaraes said. “That’s what this work is about: the thoughts we hide because they don’t sound like what a new mother is supposed to feel. I loved my children deeply. I was also struggling deeply. Both things can be true.”
The campaign will run nationwide in both English and Spanish across broadcast TV, online video, out-of-home, radio, and digital media platforms. Per the Ad Council’s model, various media outlets donated the time and space for the PSAs to run, with pro-bono support from Mischief USA, WPP Media, and Datonics. Additional media partners for the campaign include Amazon Ads, Fuse Media, iHeartMedia, Kargo, Pinterest, and Reddit.
Andrea Michelson is the healthcare marketing reporter at ADWEEK. She previously covered the coronavirus pandemic for Business Insider and was part of the New York Times Covid mapping effort in 2020.
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