OKLAHOMA CITY (KOKH) — 988, Oklahoma’s mental health lifeline, is teaming up with a celebrity to air a Super Bowl commercial for the second consecutive year.
Paul Scheer tells Fox 25 he’s invested in this cause, and he really appreciates how the Sooner State handles mental health.
“Mental health, to me, resonates with everyone,” Scheer said. “Myself, my friends, my family. Everyone goes through it in different ways. I think the big difference is: I know how to get help. I know what to do. Some people don’t even know where to begin.”
Scheer directed and starred in the public service announcement.
“In Super Bowl commercials, everyone’s living the best life. They’re eating the chips, they’re munching on their tacos. It’s like life can’t be better. But, what if we showed you what those people were really thinking?”
In a 988 Super Bowl PSA featuring scenes at the Paycom Center, Prairie Surf studios, an Airbnb and a location just outside El Reno. Scheer and his wife June Diane Raphael act out situations where people hide their emotions.
“So it’s this idea about you don’t have to be ‘fake happy.’ Commercials are fake happy. Hey, they have to be fake happy. You don’t have to be.”
The cast shows it’s okay to ask for help, by calling 988.
“We try so hard to show who we think people want us to be, but there’s no shame in showing what we actually are going through.”
Heath Hayes, Deputy Commissioner of the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, says raising awareness about 988 is crucial. According to Hayes, 50% of people in Oklahoma who died by suicide didn’t connect with any mental health service.
“In order to save people’s lives, we’ve got to get the number out to as many people as we can. Getting a Super Bowl spot that’s specific in Oklahoma is one of the ways in which we know, based on our experience last year, is a way to get the information out of this lifesaving, critical service.”
Hayes says after last year’s commercial with Kristen Chenoweth, 988 saw a big increase in calls.
He tells Fox 25 he would like this year’s PSA to spread the word to even more people.