Breaking The Silence

How an image, not an ad, transformed the way the UK treats suicide.

ITV (the UK's largest commercial TV station) and CALM have been working together to prevent suicide since 2018. CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably) are a charity taking a stand against suicide, providing life-saving services and pushing forward the national conversation surrounding conversation. De-stigmatising and bringing people together to make a stand against living miserably. 

CALM's ‘The Last Photo’ put suicide prevention back on the national agenda by tackling a deep-rooted problem: that people think they know what suicidal looks like. 

Prevention requires more than just awareness. To prevent suicide, we must first understand it. CALM identified a deep-rooted problem in the nation’s perception of suicide. Beyond simply raising awareness of the issue, tackling that problem would address the rising suicide rate head-on.

We needed to equip the nation to prevent suicides by educating the public about suicidal behaviour and providing practical tools for intervention.

We learned that people think they know what suicidal looks like, and they hesitate to intervene until they see that stereotype. But the reality is that people can seem happy just moments before taking their own lives.

So if we wait for the 'signs' to appear, we'll be waiting too long.

The problem: people think they know what suicidal looks like - crying, reclusiveness, misery. And if they don’t see these stereotypical warning signs, they hesitate to intervene.

The reality: the signs of someone feeling suicidal aren’t what you might expect. In fact, when someone takes the decision to end their life, they often go from appearing down to extremely happy.

How do you kickstart that conversation in a post-pandemic world in which 125 deaths a week suddenly feels much smaller?

You embark on a new kind of campaign. One that swaps horrifying numerical figures for the human faces of real people lost to suicide.

That focuses not just on creating awareness, but inciting action.

And most importantly, that places the emphasis for suicide prevention not on politicians, but on people all up and down the country talking about suicide openly, unreservedly, without fear or shame.

The best way to prove this? Don't tell people. Show them.

We worked with 50 families across the UK to identify the last photo and video taken of the person they lost to suicide, each one seeming happier than the last.

We made them famous with a huge national campaign.

And then we gave people practical tools to genuinely help.

On Monday 20th June, we unveiled a huge installation of 50 smiling portraits on the South Bank – with no mention of CALM or suicide. As people walked through, they saw people living what appear to be rich, happy, carefree lives.

On the morning of Wednesday 22nd June, the true nature of the exhibition was revealed live on This Morning alongside reveal posters at the location and a huge national TV, Cinema, Social, Press, OOH and PR campaign.

The reveal: these are the last photos of people who later died by suicide. Unmissable proof that suicidal doesn't always look suicidal.

This began a conversation about the true nature of suicidal behaviour and how we can all get involved with prevention. ITV conducted a live phone-in with viewers and CALM experts. Simultaneously, the campaign landing page went live. QR codes at the exhibition and across the campaign assets drove people to this site, where they could engage more deeply with the stories of those featured and, crucially, pick up practical tools for preventing suicide.

48 hours following launch, the campaign film was the most talked-about video on Reddit globally - triggering a huge, constructive conversation about suicidal behaviour.

Despite not being a primary objective, the campaign led to a 400% YoY increase in donations to CALM.

And most importantly, CALM directly prevented 161 suicides in the 6 months following the campaign, up by 48% on the previous year.