Asics Launches Fresh Take On Demotivating Before & After Images

Yesterday was World Mental Health Day, and among welcome thought pieces and advice given from first hand experience, the internet is awash with brands taking their stance. Which, again, is welcome if that message comes from a place of actually caring.

One brand always hitting the mark is Asics. A brand whose very name comes from the acronym “anima sana in corpore sano” translated as "a sound mind, in a sound body". And this year was no different.

The Japanese brand has teamed up with Mind and launched a ‘Dramatic Transformation’ campaign which seeks to discourage unrealistic before and after images used on social media. Instead, focussing on the mental transformation people can experience with a little exercise.

The campaign is headlined with well-known names including Motsi Mabuse, Jada Sezer and Dr. Alex George getting around the table and talking about their often mixed relationships with exercise and their bodies.

For instance, Love Islander-turned-Ambassador for Mental Health, Dr Alex speaks of his own obsession with exercising purely for a body image, that to many, is unattainable. He has since reframed how he talks about exercise, opting to use the term ‘movement’ with it being a much more accessible term for everyday folk.

The 10 minute panel discussion is complemented with some simple billboard ads showing the same body, before and 15 minutes 9 seconds after exercise. However the difference isn’t a super flat stomach or toned body, but a subtle difference in facial expression/mood - 15:09 being the amount of time it takes to see an uplift in mood when exercising.

Asics’ research found that 73% of Brits believe our obsession with the perfect body is damaging our mental health. Furthermore, 80% of us are demotivated by body transformation images and almost half feel insecure about their bodies after seeing ‘before-and-after’ images. In short, they don’t do the job we think they do, and Asics are here to highlight that.

The campaign follows an activation last year that saw a simple packaging redesign made to look like a pill box, again, highlighting the anti-depressive benefits of exercise. In a marketing landscape obsessed by social purpose that is oftentimes grandiose and forced, it’s refreshing to see a brand that wholeheartedly practices what they preach. A sound brand indeed.