MONTREAL – Bell will donate a further $6.11 million to Canadian mental health programs after last Wednesday’s Bell Let’s Talk Day recorded 122,150,772 calls, tweets, texts and shares.
The record-setting interactions took place in the 28.5 hours between midnight Newfoundland time and midnight Pacific time on January 28, and included tweets using #BellLetsTalk, Facebook shares of the Bell Let's Talk image, and text messages, mobile calls and long distance calls by Bell Canada and Bell Aliant customers – an 11.6 % increase over the 109,451,718 total interactions on Bell Let's Talk Day last year.
#BellLetsTalk was the top Twitter trend in Canada and worldwide (up from #3 worldwide last year), with #stopthestigma, #endthestigma, #mentalhealthawareness and #sicknotweak trending throughout the day. The 4,775,708 total tweets and retweets on Bell Let's Talk Day 2015 were 58.3% more than the 3,016,621 sent in 2014.
"We know that mental illness touches all of us in some way, that it has a powerful impact on individual lives, on families, on our entire national economy. We're grateful that Canadians have embraced the mental health cause, with a level of engagement in this year's Bell Let's Talk Day and the anti-stigma message that was truly remarkable," said George Cope, president and CEO of Bell Canada and BCE, in the news release. "As the top Twitter trend on the planet, with messages of support and hope from people around the globe, and the endorsement of international leaders and celebrities, this year's Bell Let's Talk Day really showed that there is universal desire for action in mental health. Once again, Canada leads the way."
