A screaming baby in the middle of the night, physical changes like stretch marks, and the quiet agony of crying alone in the shower are the stark, often-unspoken realities of early motherhood. For generations, these harsh truths have been kept tightly under wraps, overshadowed by a societal pressure that demands new mothers project an image of effortless perfection. However, a powerful new public service announcement campaign launched today by the Ad Council aims to drag these hidden burdens out of the shadows and into an open, supportive dialogue.
Timed to debut ahead of World Mental Health Day, the Ad Council has introduced “What’s Her Secret?”, a striking suite of public service announcements designed to encourage new and expecting mothers to place their mental health and well-being at the forefront. This targeted maternal mental health effort, operating under the overarching title The Secret to Motherhood, forms an essential component of the council’s broader, multi-year “Love, Your Mind” campaign, which is dedicated to raising mental health awareness across the United States.
At the heart of the campaign is a poignant, pro-bono commercial created by the creative agency Mischief USA. In the spot, a group of women gather casually in a park to catch up on life, directing familiar questions toward a new mother among them. "How do you make it look so easy?" one friend asks admiringly. The new mother responds with thoughtful consideration, attributing her apparent grace to maintaining a consistent daily routine and relying on a solid support system. All the while, however, a starkly different narrative plays out on a continuous loop inside her mind, filled with sleepless nights, overwhelming anxiety, and the relentless daily struggles that she feels compelled to hide from the world.
As the emotional chaos and internal pressure reach a fever pitch, the friendly dialogue in the park gradually fades away. A resonant voice-over breaks through the silence, delivering the campaign’s central, hard-hitting message: “There is no secret to motherhood. There are only secrets we’re keeping about it.”
The urgency behind this messaging is underscored by alarming public health statistics. Maternal mental health conditions are extraordinarily common, yet they are rarely discussed with the candor they require. According to data from the Maternal Mental Health Leadership Alliance, at least one in five mothers reports experiencing symptoms of depression or anxiety during the vulnerable postpartum period. Yet, despite the high prevalence of these conditions, three-quarters of those women fail to receive the professional mental health treatment they desperately need.
The consequences of leaving postpartum depression and anxiety unaddressed are frequently a matter of life and death. According to the most recent report on maternal mortality prevention from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), suicide and drug overdose resulting from underlying mental health conditions have become a leading cause of death for new mothers in the United States, accounting for an alarming 27.7 percent of all pregnancy-related deaths in 2022.
Through The Secret to Motherhood public service announcements, the Ad Council hopes to reach women during the particularly fragile early stages of motherhood, guiding them toward expert-vetted tools and support networks. The campaign directs women to visit LoveYourMind.com/moms, a newly established digital resource hub dedicated entirely to maternal mental health and providing accessible pathways to care.
From a creative and cultural standpoint, the campaign directly challenges the suffocating perfectionism that society imposes on mothers. By destigmatizing these emotional hurdles, the initiative invites women to speak candidly about the complex, often contradictory emotional realities of pregnancy and early motherhood, empowering them to seek professional support before crises arise.
Bianca Guimaraes, a founding partner and executive creative director at Mischief USA, opened up about her own personal battle with postpartum depression in a press release accompanying the campaign’s launch. She vividly recalled spending hours pushing a stroller through the park simply to pass the agonizing hours of the day, all while harboring intense feelings of envy toward the freedom and independence enjoyed by the childless individuals she passed along the way.
“Those were thoughts I didn’t feel like I could say out loud,” Guimaraes shared. “That’s what this work is about: the thoughts we hide because they don’t sound like what a new mother is supposed to feel. I loved my children deeply. I was also struggling deeply. Both things can be true.”
The comprehensive campaign is rolling out nationwide across a wide array of broadcast television, online video, out-of-home displays, radio, and digital media platforms, with assets produced in both English and Spanish to reach diverse communities. In keeping with the Ad Council’s collaborative public service model, numerous media organizations have generously donated airtime and advertising space to ensure the vital message reaches as many households as possible.
The campaign has also benefited significantly from extensive pro-bono contributions from industry partners, including creative agency Mischief USA, WPP Media, and Datonics. A robust roster of additional media partners has stepped up to support the initiative, featuring prominent platforms such as Amazon Ads, Fuse Media, iHeartMedia, Kargo, Pinterest, and Reddit, all uniting to amplify a message that aims to save lives by dismantling the silence surrounding maternal mental health.
