Clear Launches #KeepAClearHead Tackles Social Anxiety

SINGAPORE -  Media OutReach  - 13 June 2019 - Clear, a global anti-dandruff hair care brand of Unilever, today announces the launch of a global campaign - #KeepAClearHead - aimed at equipping young people with the support and tools they need to become more resilient in the face of rising social anxiety.   To help highlight the issue, the brand has released 'The Long Walk', a film starring celebrity ambassador Cristiano Ronaldo which gives viewers an insight into the journey he takes in preparing for a match.   In the film, Ronaldo urges young people to keep a clear head as they go through their own Long Walk, encouraging them to be more resilient in the face of life's challenges.  



In The Long Walk, Ronaldo explains: "I have taken this walk a thousand times and still the first step is the hardest. I can hear my heart beating in my head, but I give each beat a name: Spirit, courage, greatness. As the noise rises around me, a roar rises in my throat. Your love makes me strong, your hate makes me unstoppable."

Clear believes that everyone should be able to perform at their best. However, social anxiety, defined by the 'fear of being judged', can stop people from performing at their full potential. Globally, over 284 million individuals suffer from anxiety disorders[1], a quarter of whom are between the ages of 10 and 24[2]. While anxiety disorders often develop during adolescence and early adulthood[3], social anxiety tends to have an earlier onset - between the age of 5-10 on average[4], and can have consequences that prevents individuals from reaching their best potential. Social anxiety has become a major problem for many young people around the world as more and more expectations are placed on them to succeed.   Now more than ever before, as a consequence of our 'always on' culture and lives lived in full view through social media, young people find themselves under intense scrutiny and pressure to perform.

To develop a world-leading approach to helping young people build resilience and prevent social anxiety, CLEAR is working in partnership with the Resilience Research Centre (RRC) at Dalhousie University and Dr. Michael Ungar, Director of the RRC at Dalhousie University and author of Change Your World: The Science of Resilience and the True Path to Success. Ungar, is one of the world's leading social scientists whose work is raising awareness of the growing issue of social anxiety and the need to shift our focus to equipping young people with the supports they need to achieve both ruggedness AND resourcefulness to be able to tackle life's many challenges.  

"To understand social anxiety, one has to distinguish between a social anxiety disorder, which is the most severe form of the problem and debilitating in more than one area of a person's life, and what is called "non-clinical" social anxiety which is far more common. More serious social anxiety has long-term negative consequences for young people so it's important to recognise the early signs of the disorder and prevent even mild social anxiety before it gets worse," said Ungar.

Together with Clear, Ungar and his team of researchers are showing that one's ability to overcome social anxiety and challenging problems in life depends on both how rugged we are as individuals, and how resourced and supported we are by our families, friends, co-workers and communities. Ungar explains why Cristiano Ronaldo is the true personification of resilience: "His life teaches us that to be successful and resilient, two things are important. First, we need to be a rugged individual, which means taking full advantage of our talents and being positive about our future. Second, we need to be a resourced individual, with people who believe in us and the opportunities to put our talents to good use. Ronaldo has both strengths -- he knows how to use his incredible talent, and his many supports, including the love of his fans, to realise his full potential. When we are both rugged and resourced, we are far more likely to become our very best selves."

Clear is committed to enabling people to perform at their best, driving a positive change both by addressing the global issue of social anxiety and working with the RRC to develop programs and resources designed to build resilience, so that young people can better cope with social anxiety. #KeepAClearHead will see the brand working in partnership with Michael Ungar and his team to develop a curriculum and resources hub which will be rolled out globally and will help young people assess their levels of ruggedness and resourcefulness and how to develop new strategies to find and use the resources they need to better tackle social anxiety. The brand will also leverage pop culture through a partnership with Marvel to create a series of thought-provoking superhero short films and inspiring edutainment content to help young people understand the importance of building resilience and recognising the resources around them to better cope with self-doubt and social anxiety.

"Clear helps people to defy judgement and perform at their best. As an anti-dandruff shampoo, we want people to look and feel their best by clearing dandruff, which can be a cause of social anxiety. However, we believe we can play a bigger role in tackling the need to build resilience in young people to help them deal with every facet of social anxiety. Working in partnership, we want to build a generation of resilient youths who are able to perform at their best, despite increasing social pressures," said Tri Tran-Tue, Global Brand Vice President, Clear, Unilever.

To learn more about #KeepAClearHead and to watch The Long Walk, visit https://www.clearhaircare.com/arabia/en/keepaclearhead.html


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