113 Suicide Prevention Campaign Aims to Prevent Suicide among Young Men

Every day, an average of five people die by suicide in the Netherlands. Figures from 113 Suicide Prevention show that suicide rates among young adults are on the rise - especially among young men aged 20 to 30. This is why 113, in collaboration with KesselsKramer, is launching the sequel to the public campaign 1K Z1E J3. The foundation wants to break the taboo on talking about suicide. Dare and learn to talk about suicide is the main message to young adult men and their surroundings.

During the first flight of 1K Z1E J3, in 2021, 4,500 people including Dutch celebrities showed that they were open to talking about suicide. With this new campaign flight, 113 focuses specifically on the brothers, sisters, (online) friends and girlfriends of young men aged 20 to 30. After all, they are the group these guys would most easily start a conversation about mental health with.

To appeal to that group, gamer Yarasky, singer-songwriter Nigel Sean, and presenter Defano Holwijn all took part in the campaign - all familiar faces with whom the target audience can identify. All three call on their supporters to keep an eye on their friends and to start a conversation if they suspect someone is not doing well. They also call on men to talk about their mental problems, because talking helps.

The ‘Just Ask’ training

Because many people still find it quite difficult to start a conversation about suicide, every campaign statement refers to the online 'Vraag Maar' (or ‘Just Ask’) training of 113 Suicide Prevention. In that training, 113 explains how to have a conversation about suicide. 

To lower the threshold to do the training, parts of it were translated into interactive TikTok animations, bringing the training to the target audience, and motivating them to follow the entire training.

New channels

The campaign will run for 3 months starting Oct. 26 on Twitch, Reddit, TikTok and YouTube. This is the first time 113 Suicide Prevention has advertised so closely to this group. By connecting influencers to the campaign, 113 aims to win over more young people to do the training and learn how to start the conversation about suicide.