November 6th, 2018
Last month ITV won the Grand Prix and picked up three other gold awards for Project 84’s CALM, the Campaign Against Living Miserably’s work to highlight male suicide, which involved putting 84 statues on top of our previous headquarters at Southbank. The results were amazing, and sparked global conversations around the importance of mental health and greater awareness around male suicide. This is one of the ways that ITV continue to create More Than TV, we are a force for good and use our platforms to create cultural change using our mass reach.
In Britain, 84 men a week commit suicide, yet not enough people are talking about it. Well we wanted to change that. As a poignant reminder of the lives tragically lost Holly and Phillip unveiled 84 individual sculptures on This Morning - each representing a real man who took his own life.
12 of the sculptures are positioned on the roof of the This Morning Studio and the remaining 72 are standing on the roof of the ITV Studios Tower.
Each one of the 84 sculptures represented a real life lost to suicide. Read their stories on CALM's website.
The powerful art installation by US street artist Mark Jenkins, is being unveiled on top of our studio and the main ITV HQ, as part of a campaign by male suicide prevention charity CALM.
Our support is designed to initiate a much needed conversation around male suicide and movement towards better suicide prevention and bereavement support.
Project 84, has been built to raise awareness of the fact that 84 men take their own lives every week in the UK. Suicide continues to be the single biggest killer of men under 45, with three in four of all suicides being male.
The sculptures, made by American artist Mark Jenkins and his collaborator Sandra Fernandez, are visual representations of 84 real British men that tragically took their own lives. Made possible by male grooming brand Harry's, the sculptures were created during a series of workshops with the support of bereaved family members and friends of the deceased, and made using Jenkins' signature tape casting technique.
Here at This Morning we never shy away from stories that can difficult to talk about - and without doubt, one of the most heart breaking is losing a loved one to suicide.Phillip Schofield, ITV Presenter, This Morning
We used This Morning's iconic studio location to help spread a powerful message, putting male suicide front and centre on the show. Just like our Be Kind anti-bullying campaign, the aim was to hopefully save lives and start a conversation about something that traditionally hasn't been talked about enough.Martin Frizell, This Morning Editor
