Club Mental: Editorialised E-Commerce Supporting Mental Health
Published 12 October 2022
US-based platform Mental has joined the growing landscape of media and editorialised retail centring emotional wellbeing. Launched by Amy Keller Laird – the former editor-in-chief of Women’s Health and beauty director of Allure – it explores the connection between lifestyle, beauty and mental wellness, based on her own struggle with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
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Targeting women aged 22 to 40, content on diagnosis and treatments sits in a vertical called ‘Diagnosed’. It encompasses ADHD, anxiety, bipolar disorder, depression, eating disorders, OCD, and trichotillomania (being unable to resist pulling out one’s own hair). And a sub-section called ‘Medication/The Pill Diaries’ has women talking about their experiences anonymously.
Meanwhile, ‘The Good Buys’ highlights products claiming to make mental conditions more manageable, along with direct links to buy – like a Pop It Keychain for ADHD (which was originally designed to provide sensory experiences for kids finding it hard to focus). It also features books like All About Love: New Visions by late American author and social activist Bell Hooks, whose acclaimed writing tackles issues including loneliness, despair and depression.
The ‘Daily Cope’ centres tweet-style quotations, while ‘That Mental Life’ hosts interviews and articles about relationships, stress and therapy. The latter’s ‘What You Said’ tab features mental health comments overheard by readers, as well as the platform’s response. And further tapping the connection between emotional wellbeing and beauty, recurring feature ‘My Good Day Face’ hosts guests – like US actress Tina Majorino – who discuss the beauty products (all purchasable) they use to boost their mood.
Mental’s distinctly non-saccharine voice, confrontational name and textspeak titles – like ‘5 Signs of Depression That’ll Make You Say Wut’ – seek to cement its reputation as distinctly different from conventional clinical websites like WebMD or Healthline (both US).
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