Mental Illness Anti-Stigma Campaign (Surgeon General / Ad Council, announced 1999)
Announced by President Clinton and Tipper Gore on 5 June 1999, ahead of the first White House Conference on Mental Health. It was a public-private partnership run by the Surgeon General's office and the Ad Council, with Mrs. Gore as honorary chair. It aimed to dispel myths about mental illness and get people with mental health needs to seek help, using myth-versus-fact messages such as 'one in five Americans experience some form of mental illness every year'.
- Years
- 1999
- Country
- United States
- Budget
- Described by the White House as a 'major multi-million dollar commitment' (1999).
- Topic
- Mental health
- Asks people to
- Reduce stigmaSeek help
- Strategy
- Social normsStigma reduction
- Channel
- PrintRadioTV
- Audience
- AdultsGeneral public
Evidence
NoneUnknown
Sponsor (who paid)
- Ad Council Ad Council (pro bono), campaign producer
- Office of the Surgeon General / HHS (SAMHSA) Federal government, sponsor
Credits (who made it)
Not recorded yet.
Related campaigns
- Love, Your Mind 2023–now
- Seize the Awkward 2018–now
Sources
Research notes
Scope check: it was announced in June 1999 to launch 'later that fall', and the actual creative may have aired in 2000. If the post-2000 record covers SAMHSA/Ad Council anti-stigma work, merge with this one. Agency and creative not found. Illinois Archives retrieval: no box number was found online. Candidate series are RS 13/2/207 Historical File 1941-97 (file list gives file no., material type, campaign name, agency, date), 13/2/204 Campaign Listings 1942-92, 13/2/218 Campaign Posters 1942-90, 13/2/214 Television PSAs 1963, 1971-92, 1997, 13/2/219 Campaign Files 1966-2004 and 13/2/280 Campaign Video Recordings.
Record cases/ad-council-mental-illness-stigma-1999.json, updated 2026-10-22· Link to this campaign