The AboutFace organization aims to improve the lives of veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) by providing resources and real stories to help those struggling access treatment options. Funded by the National Center for PTSD, AboutFace seeks to ultimately save lives and families from the damaging effects of PTSD by raising awareness of the condition and encouraging veterans to stop feeling ashamed and seek the help they need. While AboutFace cannot reduce PTSD diagnoses, its website and resources aim to help those suffering finally come forward to get treatment.

1. Campaigns
By Chris Bailey

2. NHS Anti-Smoking
CampaignThe NHS Anti-Smoking Campaign focuses on
reducing the numbers of smokers nationally.
The reason they want to do this is to reduce
the numbers of deaths and the strain it puts
financially on the NHS.
The Campaign uses a series of images and
short texts to get the message across to the
viewer. The images used are often very
shocking and even disgusting, almost like a
tough love approach. Images of raw tumours
and black blotchy blood pouring from the end
of a cigarette are a sure fire way to revolt a
smoker. There are sometimes the more
touching approaches, such as the image on the
right. This focuses on tugging a smokers heart
strings, by bringing a child's opinion into play.
Due to this being a government campaign
there is a lot of flexibility in how they
distribute the images. Most are shown on TV,
bus stops, the sides of buses and on bill
boards. There are also many inside medical
practices and magazines.
This campaign is very impactful and uses sheer
shock in most cases to get the publics and
smokers attention. The hope is to have a
smoker reminded of the dangers every time
they light up. The statistics show that since the
launch of this campaign the rates of smokers
has fallen, but the long lasting effects are still
prominent.

3. PETA Anti-Fur Campaign
The PETA Anti Fur Campaign focuses on
changing opinions and enlightening people on
the global issue that is Fur trade. The Fur Trade
is a very argumentative subject, but a subject
that often doesn’t directly apply to us. Real fur
products are often expensive and premium,
but the numbers of animals slaughtered for
the fur is very high.
PETA often use models and incredibly hot
women such as he furry one to represent
their cause, this is a sure fire way of getting
the attention of men and women due to
using models of both genders, who are often
half dressed. Some of the images are more
personal and humorous as a relaxed
approach and some are very straight
forward and shocking, such as models
holding the remains of a skinned animal.
The aim of this campaign is to create global
change, to stamp out the fur industry for
good. The change will come from changing
opinions on the fur trade internationally.
PETA often infiltrate the media by holding
local/national events which grab the
attention of media reporters.

4. Anti-Gun Campaign (USA)
This series of campaign images by “Moms Demand Action” show what has been banned
in parts of America, and what hasn’t, one of Americas biggest killers - the Assault Rifle.
The aim of this campaign it to change opinions surrounding the banning of guns in
America, this challenges dominant representations of guns ‘protecting’ America.
Comparing what is legal, high capacity assault rifles vs the banned Kinder egg, Little red
riding hood, and the dodge ball. It is to show Nationally, and even globally, the dangers
being posed to civilians, that is only possible due to conservative American amendments.
The images show 2 children in multiple school rooms, one holding a banned commercial
product and one holding an assault rifle. It is very eye opening seeing what is viewed as a
more serious danger to the American public, young and old. The fact that the images are
all based in school rooms, such as the Library, Classroom and Sports Hall are very
meaningful as it is the locations that kick started what is essentially an international
intervention on American gun laws, relating to events such as the Sandy Hook mass
shooting in 2013, and the 94+ school shootings since then.
Anti Gun Campaigns have been fierce since the Sandy Hook tragedy, and they are fuelled
every week/month by new mass shootings in America. Since then the number of gun
owners in the USA has fallen, although a third of American homes have at least one
firearm.
The anti-gun campaign by “Moms Demand Action” contains touching images which make
you think long and hard about the banning of firearms in the USA. Many ‘Anti-X’
campaigns contain graphic images to stop a problem in its tracks, and brutally raise
awareness about what is likely a brutal cause. For example PETAs Anti-Fur campaign
contains graphic images of dead/skinned animals, using the shock factor to change
peoples opinions.

5. Green Party Political
Campaign
The Green Party Political Campaign is an
attempt to change peoples voting behaviour
nationally. They do this by expressing the
changes that they plan to make, and why it
will be better for the country.
The campaign contains a variety of styles,
from short catchy messages to a detailed
text image that explains why you should
vote now. All of the images show white text
on a green background, as green is the
colour that represents the party. The
images, colours and fonts used are all very
relaxed and positive as opposed to other
political campaigns such as UKIPs very
negative attitude.
The posters try to create a relationship with
the viewer, by showing them what they can
do to help the country, as a team. They also
attempt to change attitudes towards the
Green party, as it is often seen as weak and
simply a group of tree huggers.
The Green Party did have more success after
the most recent campaign but not as much
as the other parties, the stigma related to
the Green Party holds them back a lot.

6. UKIP Political Campaign
Ukip’s political campaign posters focus on the use of images and informative
text regarding their political concerns. Many of the posters are very punchy,
this can have a balanced effect of disgusting some whilst massively appealing to
others who believe other parties spend too much time beating around the
bush.
For example the “And whose jobs are they after?” poster is almost directly
saying that Europeans are thieves after ‘Our’ (British Peoples) jobs. They also
use examples such as the Rotherham Child Sexual Exploitation scandal which
occurred whilst Labour were in charge. The image shows a very upset young
lady, a very impactful image with the number of cases as the number of
reasons to not trust Labour. The military poster shows a soldier holding his
helmet out for cash, representing the many soldiers who are living on the
streets.
These very forward posters create a snappy opinion in viewers minds, I
personally see the European Jobs poster and silly and needless, But when I see
the Service Men and Women funds poster it reminds me how many people are
suffering in our country after putting so much on the line for it.
UKIP have a very different style when it comes to promoting the
party and changing voting behaviour compared to the Green Party.
Firstly the information they provide is very negative, they remind us
of the current problems but don’t do much to say how they will
stop or fix the problem. Where as the Green Party focus on the fact
that they will make real change, and the changes they will make
such as the living wage and creating affordable housing, much
more positive and developing ideas.

7. Deaf-Fest Campaign
Deaf fest is a national film media competition purely
for the blind. This gives them an opportunity to be
recognized from the minority group they are part of.
By entering deaf fest, film producing deaf people can
stand out from the crowd more than the hearing
able. This is because they can be focused on more
by film companies, rather than being one of many
thousands of hearing able people. Deaffest creates a
community for the deaf, a place they can go and be
with people who have had similar experiences to
them.
Deaf fest gives the non traditional group access to
media production, and aims to prove that being deaf
is only one impairment, it doesn’t stop anyone from
being able to produce excellent films or anything
else, they are challenging dominant representations.
It also expresses how able they are when it comes to
film production, a media that is made purely by
sound and sight. They aim to raise awareness on a
national and international scale in order to help the
hard of hearing into commercial film production, as
otherwise they would likely be turned away.

9. Audience Research
• To investigate into my potential target audience I created a survey to be taken by
those of all ages and genders. The reason for this was to compare the results from
questions such as “Are you aware of PTSD and it’s effects” to the age or gender of
the audience member. This would give me a simple but wide demographic to
appeal to. To gain many answers I shared my survey on Twitter and Facebook, I
also asked a PTSD awareness Twitter page to share my survey, as well as having 10
other Twitter users share it. On Facebook I only got 3 shares and but received
multiple comments from people who had completed it.
• Analysis of results: I focused on analysing the results of those aged 16-24 as they
seemed to be the least educated regarding PTSD, and focused on those that stand
out. I decided to completely ignore the below 16 ages as there was only one
response, and the same with 60 or over.
• My results shown me that those aged 21-45 years old will be the basis of my target
audience, it’s also important to alert older people to the matter as they are at an
age where PTSD can have evolved in their minds and begin to cause devastating
effects.

10. Are you male or female?
How old are you?
73% of people who took my survey were female,
leaving 27% male. These results show a lot more
women taking the survey, this could be due to
women simply preferring to take the surveys, or it
could show that more women felt comfortable
taking the survey because they feel educated on it
already, as many people are less likely do a survey
if they are clueless or don’t care about a cause.
The largest proportion that took my survey were aged 31-45 at 33%,
and the runner up was 16-20 at 26%. My main target audience age is
16-20, both genders, as the results show that they are the least
educated on the cause. I aim to raise awareness amongst those who
are unsure on the effects and causes of the illness, and the
treatments available incase they know someone suffering from
PTSD.

11. Do you know or are you related to any
service Men or Women?
Are you aware of PTSD and it's effects?
There is a direct 50/50 split between those aged 16-20 that know and do not
know a service man or woman. This question often depends on age and
location, as people living closer to a barracks or married quarters are a lot
more likely to know servicemen or women. Also as a higher age you are more
likely to have met or gained friends from many different backgrounds/careers.
This 50/50 split might not have a large effect on the numbers that are aware
or PTSD and its effects, as even service men and women do not cover the
topic often. There is a larger split between those male and female that know a
serviceman or woman. 92% of men know a service man or woman, where as
only 64% of woman know a service man or woman.
Those aged 16-20 that know a service man or woman have a
higher result of knowing about PTSD and its effects, a 10%
difference. This shows that knowing someone in a high risk
PTSD category does increase the knowledge of the illness,
but not drastically. Altogether the results show that 20% of
16-20 year olds are unaware of PTSD and its effects. The
question does not define just ‘how’ aware someone is,
people may say they are aware if they simply know what it
stands for or that its something that happens after a
mentally life changing event.

12. If Yes, Do you know any sufferers?
Which do you think is a more effective mental
health campaign approach?
I was surprised at the number of people who knew a sufferer, especially a the young ages
of 16-20 years old. 39% of that age group said they know a sufferer of PTSD, almost
double the answer I was expecting. There is a large divide between the men and women
that know a sufferer of PTSD; 83% of men know someone who suffers from PTSD, where
as only 52% of women know a sufferer. This could be related to the fact that less women
know a member of the services than men.
The numbers become very significant when compared to the number of those who know
a member of the services. My results show that 67% of people that know a service man
or woman also know at least 1 sufferer of PTSD, where as only 44% of people that do not
know a member of the services know someone suffering from PTSD. This shows that
those that they know suffering from PTSD could be linked to a service background.
54% of 16-20 year olds think that a short and straight to the point
campaign approach is the best way to go for raising awareness
surrounding PTSD. This is more than half of the audience, so is
likely the most effective approach to take. I decided to take the
word of 2 different audiences. Those who are aged 16-20, for the
‘cut to the chase’ approach, but I will also adopt the ‘Detailed
facts’ preference that is closely second place amongst those who
know someone suffering from PTSD. This way I can grab peoples
attention with a snappy cut of information, and lead them to
engage with detailed information surrounding PTSD in smaller text
on a campaign poster for example.

13. Do you think that Military Related PTSD is a rare
or common issue?
Do you think enough is being done to assist the
sufferers?
92% of 16-20 year olds said that service related PTSD is a common
issue. This shows that the vast majority of that audience are correct
and understand that PTSD is a constant problem in the services. This
result does not, however, prove much understanding of the cause.
As it is simply an answer which has a relatively easy answer as it
requires no knowledge other than the illnesses existence, because
there is no numerical definition of ‘Common’ or ‘Rare’.
63% of 16-20 year olds said that they don’t think enough is
being done for the sufferers of PTSD. 4% said that enough is
being done and 33% said they were not sure. The 4% came
from one answer so it is a very insignificant result. The 63%
proves that there really needs to be more recognition and help
provided for those suffering from PTSD.

14. Do you see many campaigns surrounding PTSD
in the media?
Which would be more successful?
88% of 16-20 year olds (21 people) have said that they see nothing
regarding PTSD campaigns in the media, a shocking number. It
becomes especially shocking when you take into account how long 16-
20 year olds spend browsing through media content on TV, YouTube,
Facebook and Twitter every day. 8% (2 people) said that they saw
some PTSD campaign content in the media, and 1 person said they
saw too much. I believe the ‘Too much’ could be an anomaly in the
results.
Strangely there was a direct 50/50 split between men that saw ‘None’
and ‘Some’ in the media, yet there is a 70% -non and 30% ‘Some’ split
between women. I often focus on seeing PTSD in the media and have
only seen 1 BBC documentary focusing on PTSD and its effects, other
times include a show showing an ex soldier beating his wife – not a
portrayal where you feel sorry for both victims.
My results show that people strongly believe I should focus
on helping the sufferers directly, 73% in fact. So that is what I
am going to do. I believe this is the right thing to do as it is
very important for the Sufferer to accept the condition and
defeat it once and for all – instead of denying it / drowning
it.

15. Client Research
AboutFace, formed in 2011 is dedicated to improving the lives of Veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder
(PTSD) AboutFace is generously government funded (U.S) by ‘The National Center For PTSD’ – which was
formed in 1989. It allows Veterans and the public learn about PTSD, explore treatment options and, most
importantly, hear real stories from other Veterans and their family members. They can also get advice from
clinicians who have treated thousands of cases of PTSD.
The long term aim of AboutFace is to turn lives around, save families from the damaging effects of PTSD - and
even save lives. PTSD is also an issue that is sometimes seen as a weakness by those who suffer from PTSD or
those who are ignorant to the mental scars of war, a view that needs to be eradicated as it fuels the depression
of those who are suffering. It is also important to raise public awareness regarding just how horrifying PTSD is,
and the devastating effects it has on peoples lives.
The rates of PTSD have risen in the past 10-15 years, this is likely due to admission of the illness by veterans
who finally seek help, and due to Operation Iraqi Freedom. In fact, 11-20% of American soldiers who served in
OIF have been diagnosed with PTSD. AboutFace can’t reduce the number of soldiers diagnosed with PTSD, but
what it can do is help people stop feeling ashamed and finally come forward to get the help they need.
AboutFace does not run on social media sites such as Facebook or Twitter. Instead it just uses its own website.
The website is very functional and is very visually appealing, I feel like a social media profile for AboutFace
would ruin the polished service it is providing.

16. Existing
Products

17. National Centre For PTSD
Campaign

18. The Graphic Poster
Campaign
This poster series, is meant to educate those unaware of PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) and what
its victims go through as well as inform victims about where they can go to receive help. Each poster
features a different person with a unique situation in the past that sparked their PTSD. These situations
include War/Conflict, Burglary, and child/sexual abuse. These are all highly traumatic events that can lead
from mild to severe PTSD.
Visually the posters are very messy, images cut and scattered on the page, positioned with little effort,
expressing the disorder in the victims mind. There is a lot of bold red on the posters, this could represent
blood or danger, or any kind of negative event. Behind the random imagery is a soft grey background
which looks dull and empty, as if the images engraved in their memories are taking over their lives.
The word ‘PTSD’ is pasted over the eyes of each featured person. This represents the blinding effects that
PTSD has over its victims, as if everything they see go through a PTSD filter and make it something
uncomforting or nasty, potholes = blast craters, a knock on the door = convicted rapist, the sound of
aircraft = the skies over Afghanistan, and sleep, the gateway back to the horrifying situations experienced
in the past.
Each poster has the text “Stay Strong Seek Help”, this is the motto for the campaign. Below the motto is a
short fact regarding the featured PTSD cause, for example “30% of War Veterans Experience Post
Traumatic Stress Disorder”. On another part of the page – differing between product, there is a personal
story about the cause of the disorder, matching the images, such as the girl who came face to face with an
armed burglar when she was a teenager, or the man was physically, sexually, and emotionally abused as a
child.

19. Combat Stress
Campaign

20. Combat Stress
Campaign
Combat Stress is the main UK PTSD campaigner, formed in 1919 – when shell shock from world war one was on the
rise, raising money for soldiers treatments and support. Combat stress, similarly to Help For Heroes, use a series of
Poster campaigns and merchandise campaigns to raise awareness and money for those suffering from mental war
wounds. Combat stress is currently serving 5,900 UK service men/women/veterans aged from 18-97.
Combat stress spends 15Million per year on providing services and treatments to those in need. The services they
provide are incredibly successful, with 87% of people that undergo treatment reporting a significant reduction in PTSD
related symptoms.
Combat stress use many different products to raise money for the charity, posters, pens, wrist bands hoodies and more.
The physically purchasable products are an excellent investment for raising money and the production cost is low, the
income is high and the public like to show their support for charities with merchandise.
The poster campaign by Combat Stress its almost always aimed at those around someone with PTSD, this is due to help
often beginning in the home, or from friends and family, those closest to a sufferer. It is very important for people to be
educated on the matter, as misunderstanding of the illness can have devastating effects on the sufferers and the people
around them. Families are often torn apart by the illness when the sufferer is not receiving treatment or help.
Combat stress does a lot of research into the numbers of Combat PTSD. These include yearly rates and admissions, and
shocking statistics, such as it taking an average of 13 years for someone to admit them selves to combat stress for help
and treatment. Although, the years it takes an Afghanistan or Iraq veteran to admit I themselves to combat stress is a
lot lower. Combat Stress was often something for a veteran to go to, and it was this approach which made it hard for
someone to admit it and get in contact with them, nowadays combat stress is readily available and carries no stigma,
making it a much smoother and easier process for those suffering from combat related mental illness.

21. NHS Mental Health
Campaign

22. The ‘Stamp Out Stigma’ NHS mental health campaign was aired in 2010 by the NHS, a
campaign aiming to stop people using such negative language and approaches to mental
health. The campaign included a series of posters, regarding mental health.
Alongside this they set out to collect 100,000 pledges from the public to ‘Stamp Out
Stigma’. This was a pledge to not use words such as ‘Psycho’ ‘Freak’ ‘Nutter’ to describe
someone fighting a mental illness. The campaign was very successful, reaching over
107,000 pledges from the public.
The campaign was also set out online on Twitter mainly, with ‘#istampoutstigma’ where
people could share their stories and pledges to millions of twitter users around the world.
The poster campaign shows different people with different mental health problems and
lives. Each of them has had their mouth torn away like paper, beneath the paper is a name
that has been linked to them, this includes ‘suicidal’ and ‘nutter’. This represents their
voices being taken away, as if it doesn’t matter what they say, they will always be seen as
the stigma that sticks to them. Above each person is a short sentence about the effect of
the stigma their illness has, such as ‘I’m dealing with depression, stupid names don’t help’.
NHS Mental Health
Campaign