I have been a huge fan of Shonda Rhimes and ABC's Thursday nights for as long as I can remember. I watched and fell in love with Derek Shepherd when he chose to spend his life with Meredith Grey. I cried when Denny, George, McSteamy, and Lexie died. I gasped when Olivia Pope's mother turned against her country, her marriage, and her daughter and smiled when Olivia and Jake stood in the sun. Most importantly I praised the ABC network for the strong convictions and political statements they made in Shondaland. I was impressed in 2006 when they dismissed Isaiah Washington from the Grey's Anatomy cast for making homophobic comments. I find the strong black female lead, Olivia Pope, truly breathtaking. I have loved that ABC does not try to hide race, sexuality, nor mental health issues, but rather the network celebrated characters' differences, their struggles, and their identities. All that, however, has changed.
The new commercials airing on the ABC network promoting the return of Shondaland shows are incredibly distasteful, to say the least. For those of you who have not seen them, the new #TGIT commercials depict characters from Scandal, Grey's Anatomy, and How To Get Away With Murder in a satirical public service announcements, describing symptoms and ways to cope with the fictitious disorder, TGIT Withdrawal Disorder. The commercials are clearly a play on ads for prescription medications for those suffering from actual mental health disorders. In one commercial, How To Get Away With Murder actor, Jack Falahee, makes the statement, "Having TGIT off the air hurts you, me, everyone" echoing the format of a commercial for the antidepressant, Cymbalta.
For a network that has put a positive spin on controversial political issues for so many years to turn around and paint mental health in a humorous light is appalling and, honestly, disheartening. Main characters in Grey's Anatomy and Scandal have suffered variying levels of mental illness throughout the Shondaland legacy - characters like Meredith, Christina, and Owen have sought out aid from mental health professionals to overcome depression and PTSD; Bailey lived with obsessive compulsive disorder and anxiety; the Chief struggles with an alcohol addiction; Mellie lived with depression after the loss of her son - all of which made the characters even more accessible, even more believable, and even more inspirational when they eventually overcame and coped with their obstacle. What they hell is ABC doing endorsing commercials that make fun of those that actually suffer?
Mental illnesses are invisible disabilities that cannot be seen and are rarely heard. Those that suffer do so in silence because of the stigma surrounding mental health disorders, the most common being that those suffering from depression are "being dramatic." These #TGIT Withdrawal Disorder commercials are only reinforcing this unfair stigma by satirizing actual disorders, making them seem as trivial as longing for a television show. The suggestion to "dance it out," as a way to cope with their superficial sadness is even more infuriating when you consider how many people cope with depression by engaging in dance, exercise, and listening to music.
This is not to condemn ABC and Shonda Rhimes as deliberate haters of mental health and those that live with mental illness; I am sure the commercials were not made with malicious intentions. The fact of the matter is that they are perpetuating the negative stigma surrounding mental illness and the commercials should be stopped. I am disappointed in the network's severe oversight that the #TGIT PSA's could be seen as making light of and poking fun at the severity of mental health disorders, and I hope that they take caution moving forward.
Until this point Shonda Rhimes and ABC have done a truly wonderful job breaking the stigma surrounding mental illness; they showed us that depression could truly hurt everyone and everywhere, that self-medicating with alcohol and other drugs was not an option, and that suffering in silence only leads to more suffering. Most importantly Shonda Rhimes showed us that those who suffer can also stand in the sun. She inspired us when Izzie got up off the bathroom floor, when Smelly Mellie put on her red dress, when Christina got out of the bathtub, and when Bailey stepped into the operating room again. Shonda Rhimes and ABC have made strong political statements throughout their time that have helped break so many unfair stigmas across countless social constructs; these commercials, however, are a serious misstep made by a terrible lack of judgement on behalf of the network, Rhimes, and the millions of fans that are praising the humor and creativity of these commercials.
