Blue Monday has had a mixed reception – some feel that it trivialises a serious subject and somehow demeans the suffering of a very material part of the population to ‘feeling a bit low’ mid way through January. Whilst we recognise that the labelling of a single day in the year is far from perfect, atis has chosen to give £1 for every bowl sold on Monday 20th January.

There are two important reasons for this:

– It gives all important visibility to a subject that is still needs to be spoken about more. 13.6% of children (i) are affected by mental health illnesses and in adults in contact with mental health services have an employment rate 67.4% lower than the overall rate (ii).

– Blue Monday acts as a conduit for people to give – we have found the consumers often feel that they lack constructive ways to give to charity, and this initiative allows our customers to give to a great charity. By allowing people to give as they purchase you allow them to give in a way that feels right and is proportionate to their own spend.

Blue Monday might not be perfect but it is done with good intent, and supports a cause that everyone in our society is touched by.

We matched the amount of bowls sold on the Blue Monday initiative, donating a total of £600 to Mind Charity.

Sources: 

i) https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-47133338
ii) https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/oct/07/we-are-in-the-midst-of-a-mental-health-crisis-advice-about-jogging-and-self-care-is-not-enough