Life is Strange is a franchise that is known to tackle some difficult issues, from loneliness and depression to suicide to the hostile takeover of America by corporate business owners to grieving the loss of loved ones. In an interesting new marketing campaign, the franchise takes some of these fights outside of the limitations of the games and into the real world.
Another recurring theme in the Life is Strange games is that of strong friendships. The relationship between Max and Chloe was at the center of the first game and now Chloe and Rachel’s friendship is being explored in Before the Storm. When the first episode of Before the Storm came out a little over a month ago, the franchise’s marketing department started a campaign that encouraged people to write heartfelt letters to close friends, opening up about how much their friendships mean to them. Today (October 2), they seem to be continuing this theme with a slightly different campaign that will benefit those suffering from mental illnesses.
Various Life is Strange social media pages recently shared a link to a website promoting their #YourFriendMe campaign. This campaign encourages people to record themselves telling a friend how important their friendship is to them and then to share that video with that friend using the hashtag #YourFriendMe. For every video shared this way, Square Enix, Life is Strange‘s publisher, has promised to donate $5, up to a total of $25,000, to the JED Foundation. The website describes the JED Foundation as “an advocate for the mental health of teens and young adults nationwide, partnering with high schools and colleges to strengthen substance abuse programs and suicide prevention programs.”
So if you’ve been meaning to tell a friend how important they are to you, or if you’ve wanted to get back in contact with someone you’ve been out of touch with for a while, you now have an excuse to do so. It’s for a good cause AND it’s related to video games.
