Apparently, Quebecers Love Life!

While the government means well and it's certainly not a bad idea to remind us all that sane habits improve your health and quality of life, there's something amateurish about these over-the-top ads that attempt so hard to make a point they end up smacking you upside the head with their earnestness. Like Christmas carols and get-togethers always end up making lonely people lonelier, these ads have the potential of making people who are depressed only more depressed, by reminding them of what they should be experiencing and are not.

In all three ads declaring Quebecers Love Life, no matter what the people are doing, they all have one thing in common: they're smiling back at us. Huge, unabashed, "man, life is GOOD!" smiles. It’s enough to make anyone run in the opposite direction!

Which city is this where the sun always shines and happiness reigns? Why is no one having a bad day and what are these folks so overjoyed about? Where's this magical province where residents –young and old-- are bursting with contentment? In fact, out of a total of three half-page ads, there's only one young kid sitting in a high-chair, smirking back at us, refusing to crack a smile. Props to him for being real! The Health Ministry ad even has the skateboarding teenagers smiling! Who are they fooling? We all know teenagers live their lives in a perpetual state of scowling.

With Quebec experiencing the highest rates of depression in Canada, shouldn't realism be part of these ads? Here’s what all these smiling actors don't tell us: the number of anti-depressants prescribed in Quebec has more than doubled in the past 7 years. Nearly five million prescriptions for antidepressants were issued in 2007, a 15-per-cent increase from the previous year, according to figures from the Régie d'assurance maladie du Quebec. The province's health insurance plan paid out $115 million for antidepressant medication in 2007 — nearly double from 2000, when approximately 2.4 million prescriptions for those covered by the program cost $68 million.

It's nice to declare that Quebecers Love Life, but sadness and depression are unfortunately often also a part of life. You can't fix what you don’t acknowledge.

To see the ads, go to:saineshabitudesdevie.gouv.qc.ca