New Zealand yesterday launched a campaign to help young Kiwis through painful breakups, encouraging the heartbroken to “own the feels” and block their exes on social media.
The government’s novel “Love Better” campaign offers advice and support about what to do when the romance ends, and is to feature in podcasts and on platforms such as Instagram.
“Breakups suck ... but you can channel it for good. Own the feels,” a soothing voiceover says in a campaign video.
Six in 10 New Zealanders aged 16 to 24 have been through a breakup, and a large majority of those have “experienced or perpetrated harmful impacts” as a result, data analytics group Kantar said.
The country also has one of the highest youth suicide rates in the developed world, UNICEF data showed.
The new campaign bills itself as “a community of the freshly broken-up, helping the freshly broken-up to keep a little hurt from becoming a lotta hurt.”
The video includes young people explaining how they dealt with breakups.
“I’m going to have to do it, honestly. This is getting ridiculous, this is getting so out of hand. I need to sleep at night. I need to get over her,” says a man, who proceeds to block his former crush on social media.
New Zealand Associate Minister for Social Development Priyanca Radhakrishnan said the government was to spend NZ$6.4 million (US$3.98 million) on the campaign over three years.
“We know breakups hurt. We want to support our young people ... and [let them] know that there is a way through without harming themselves or others,” she said.
“Love Better” is a “primary prevention campaign” so people could share “real stories to help their peers who may be going through similar experiences,” she said.
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