Brilliant UK Campaign to promote talking about death

The fear of talking about the unknown and death is creating an unneeded tension during difficult times. Death care professionals see it time and time again, families come in unsure of what a loved one would have wanted, even potentially bickering internally within the family about what should be selected. All of which could hopefully be avoided with a dialogue occurring about death before someone passes. But how can the death care community help stimulate these conversations with families?

Starting the conversation

One UK based charity, Marie Curie, which focuses on helping terminally ill patients has put this at the core of their current campaign. Being in the center, where families have an immediate need for a conversation about death, Marie Curie is on the front lines when it comes to the difficulties around the conversation of a loved one passing. They also have an intimate understanding that the best way to prepare a family for a terrible situation is to talk about what will happen when death does inevitably come. Attempting to create tranquility in someone’s passing by following through with what you know was their final wish.

Cross media campaign

This year Marie Curie ́s campaign is called ‘Talk About’. It is a cross media campaign with social posts aimed around getting public engagement, a YouTube video series, and a podcast (on the Marie Curie couch) with celebrities.

The video campaign begins by addressing the euphemisms that the public uses out of fear called ¨Whatever you call it, we should all talk about it.” Followed by short videos about how to start educating children about death, videos about discussing death to specific demographics, and a mini series that mirrors a newlywed game show vibe asking family or friends to guess what each others end of life wishes are.

The podcast has bereavement specialist Jason Davidson talk with British celebrities about their thoughts and experiences with death. Discussing the effects death has had on them so far and their end of life choices. It’s an honest and open discussion that can help demystify the topic of death for the public by walking through examples of what people can do at home with familiar and beloved figures.

Being in direct contact with the audience

As a direct dialogue with the audience there are also end of life choice discussions across all the Marie Curie media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram). The first inquiry was a fun giphy about your favorite song, accompanied by the text ¨We’re really good at small talk and chit chat, but we often avoid the important topics. Opening up the conversation earlier around end of life makes it easier when the time comes. Tell us what your last song would be. #MyLastSong.¨ Letting the public become involved in the conversation and creating an easy opportunity for everyone in the community to contribute. It is also easy to follow through the web with an easy and uniquely traceable # hashtag. People listed all kinds of songs and soundtracks that they thought would embody the life they lived. While the campaign has just begun it’s a great example of what organizations and companies can do in the death care industry to help facilitate better deaths. So what’s your #MyLastSong?