There is only one man to whom Blue Monday is actually the most depressing day of the year. That man is Dean Burnett, a neuroscientist whose interviews have been cut-up in the past in such a way it looks like he supports the research to the worst day of the year. His picture is still next to the description of this fictional phenomena. Because that’s what Blue Monday is. It’s the result of a collaboration of a traveling agency and a scientist that received money to present it as the truth. The third Monday of January is a hoax. And everybody fell for it.

PR-stunt

Chris Arnall, the scientist that collaborated with a traveling agency, fooled the people. The goal? Making money. And how do you easily achieve this? Use feelings of the people! In this case, it’s even a partly foisted feeling. The PR stunt has proven again that marketing strategies can be thoroughly evil. 

The formula

Chris Arnall published a ‘scientific’ research in which a formula has been developed to discover the most depressing day of the year. In this formula there are factors like income and debts, but also the weather, motivation and time since failing your New Year’s resolutions. Fill in this formula and January seems like it definitely could be the most depressing month. And that is just the period of time in which this smart traveling agency hopes you will use your first salary of the year to book a holiday to improve your foisted bad mood!

Commerce abused Blue Monday

The success of this marketing stunt has been expanded worldwide. Blue Monday is a generally accepted fenomena. Unfortunately, the depressed mood is still being misused for commercial purposes nowadays. 

On a 3rd Monday of January an English online newspaper published an article about what makes women feel good. And coincidentally almost all those things are available at one of the biggest supermarkets! Another research has also been published in which it appeared that having discussions about making dinner and cleaning afterwards is one of the most frequent reasons of a failing marriage. And what a coincidence, this research has been done by a meal delivery company!

Positive spin from Blue Monday

Luckily, this foisted unhappiness isn’t just being misused by commercial companies, but it’s also being used to give this day a more positive twist and give more attention to the stigma on mental health problems. There are campaigns to wear the brightest colors of your wardrobe, there is some extra attention being given to suicide prevention and a tea brand calls everyone to take some time to have a cup of tea and good talk with someone from your surroundings on this day.