Article Abstract
National public health awareness campaigns that emphasize peer-to-peer support are increasingly adopted, but evidence on the effects of peer-based programs at scale remains limited. Using quasi-experimental methods, we examine whether the prominent nationwide “R U OK? Day” campaign affects short-term mental health outcomes in Australia. Leveraging survey and administrative data, we find R U OK? Day leads to a 4% of a standard deviation increase in self-reported mental wellbeing, with the effect particularly pronounced among middle-aged males who experience a 9% of a standard deviation increase. We find no detectable effects on mental health care utilization, and we detect no statistically significant changes in suicide-related deaths in the short run, though the mortality outcomes are rare and power is limited. Our results underscore that peer-based campaigns can improve mental wellbeing, especially for high-risk groups, and point to a distinction between short-run psychological responses and outcomes that require behavioural follow-through.
Journal of Marketing, June 2026
About the researcher
Lachlan Deer is a Lecturer in Marketing in the Department of Management & Marketing at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Before joining Melbourne, he was an Associate Professor of Marketing at Tilburg University and a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Zurich.
His research develops and applies quantitative models to guide managerial decision-making and inform public policy. His current research spans mental wellbeing, digital markets, and social media. His work has been published in Nature, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Journal of Marketing, and the International Journal of Research in Marketing.