Inside Vanity Fair Spain's mental health special issue

In Spain, anxiety affects six percent of the population over the age of 15. This alarming statistic is what led Alberto Moreno, Vanity Fair Spain’s Head of Editorial Content, on a journey to create a special issue dedicated to mental health.

The pandemic broke down many taboos and stigmas around mental health, and made 2022 the year we realized that we weren’t alone. However, for Vanity Fair Spain’s March issue, Moreno and his team wanted to show that there is still a long way to go in tackling the mental health crisis.

From breaking down stigmas around suicide to hearing first hand experiences of depression, the issue explores how we can come together to tackle one of the greatest challenges facing our world today.

We spoke to Moreno about the success of the issue, the response it has received from the brand’s audience and the new special issues we can expect in the coming months.

Congratulations on your brilliant new mental health special issue. Tell us about how the issue came together?

The idea of doing a special issue came from an editorial meeting in which we were looking for a theme that would be the backbone of the March issue. Being one of the main concerns of the newsroom, we thought if we had something to contribute from the point of view of Vanity Fair, with our tools and our approaches.

Vanity Fair is about characters, so we went through the national and international scene and looked at who we would like to be our protagonists. From there we began with a process of interviews (about 30) that led us to raise a main theme and three complementary ones about facing social problems, how it affects young people, how it is addressed in Spanish politics and how social networks can aggravate the problem, if not used correctly.

Tell us about the emphasis you place on anxiety in this issue?

The pandemic has been the main trigger for anxiety. In Spain, six percent of the population, over the age of 15, suffer from anxiety, according to the latest European Health Survey. Before the first major severe confinement in lockdown, people faced these problems alone or with a certain amount of shame because they were stigmatized, but perhaps with Simone Biles' confession at the Tokyo Olympics, a Pandora's box was opened that we hope will never close again. People in the public eye often become examples for us that we’re not alone in the world. If bad things happen to them with their privileges, then no one is free, so the conversation becomes a healthy one. I hope that the fact that up to 25 famous faces volunteered to tell us in this issue that there are times when they have needed help, can be a vehicle for others to lose their shame or prejudice.

Suicide is an incredibly difficult topic to discuss. How did you tackle that in this issue?

All the interviewees tried to approach this subject with the greatest of naturalness and realism. Suicide is a harsh reality and possibility that unfortunately surfaces on occasions when we are affected by mental health. The fact that for many years it has been treated as a taboo in Spain and in a large number of countries has prevented us from realizing the seriousness of the problem. For this reason, we believe that its normalization does not have to generate a pull effect, but rather the assumption that it is a real problem that deserves public and state attention in order to tackle it as best as possible.

Why did you decide to do an illustrated cover for this issue?

The fact that we put a famous personality talking about their conditions was not going to be as striking as if we put an illustration in which we could all feel like protagonists. Sometimes the characters are not to everyone's taste and are polarizing, so we had to be very clear that a blank canvas could encompass our entire audience. That theoretical head is all heads. For its execution, we chose Javier Jaén – one of the most talented Spanish illustrators on the international scene right now. His recent work for the poster for Pedro Almodóvar's film “Parallel Mothers” gave us the idea that he is someone of great sensitivity and with an enormous ability for generating iconic images.

What has the response been like to the issue from your audience so far?

The response from the audience on social networks, which is what we can measure at the moment as we haven't uploaded all the content yet, has been tremendously inspiring and we are very grateful. The messages of affection have followed one another, especially those who thanked us for addressing "such a necessary topic." We imagined that a punctual change in our aesthetics could disconcert some of our audience members, but we have not received a single message like this. Instead, we have received many very exciting private messages that show that as well as making an entertaining issue, we can sometimes be vectors of real change too.

What are your upcoming plans for Vanity Fair Spain that you can tell us about?

The way we have had to work on this number has been exemplary, but we have not invented any processes. For three years we have been working on thematic issues that concern us in society. In June we are releasing a special issue about the preservation of the environment, and in July, we are dedicating a special issue to diversity, transmedia and physical experiences. As always, we call for the participation and mobilization of our readers.