I arrived at Instagram with a headstart.

No.

I may not know much about brand deals, hashtags, or the secret to putting on some funny wig and dancing around my bedroom… but I do know how to make engaging content.

Before @thetinmen, I was lucky enough to work with large brands around the world; to educate, inform and support people, to raise awareness and shape opinions, and often within many of the topics I discuss here.

I talked about gender gaps with the World Economic Forum.

I reached out to under served communities with the NHS.

I helped secure a pay rise, with the Royal College of Nursing.

Within such campaigns, we make “the creative process” seem mysterious, out of reach and expensive.

But in reality, we just present information to the public, in the right way, and change typically follows.

And yet, I brought this mindset and track record to men and boys advocacy, and the quick wins that I’ve found in the past, well, completely failed me.

The facts, data, and expert testimony I found here, was more shocking, and more convincing than anything I’ve ever worked with, and yet those I’m trying to reach, often show a superhuman sense of reluctance, that I’ve never seen before.

So many times I thought I’d cracked it, “this must surely do it” I’d think…

And yet the ears of society remained plugged with the same fingers it always has.

I was, and still am, perplexed at how so many refuse to acknowledge how men and boys have been failed, in the way they have, at the scale they have, for as long as they have; and whilst I am proud of this community, I’d be lying if I denied expecting more change.

So why do so many ignore issues that are so credible, huge, and heart breaking?

Why is the testimony and research of leading experts, so easily waved away?

Why are these issues hidden away and discussed in a dark corner of Instagram, and not plastered across the front page of every newspaper in the land?

Why the apathy and malaise?

Whats missing from the conversation, and will it ever change…

~
Full podcast with @davidmcintoshjr here,
https://tinyurl.com/3nja9d3b

2024-09-14