IF YOU’VE OPENED a newspaper or scrolled through Facebook today, you may have been informed that today is Blue Monday – the worst day of the year.
Well, here’s some good news. Blue Monday doesn’t exist, because it was made up by a PR company in 2005.
Back then, Sky Travel put out a press release – under the name of Dr Cliff Arnall – claiming that an equation had been found to discover the worst day of the year.
That equation is still in circulation.
As Ben Goldacre has noted in The Guardian, the equation is nonsense. It’s completely made up, makes no scientific sense, and its inventor has admitted he was paid to put his name to it.
In fact, even Arnall - who told the Telegraph he was paid £1,650 for putting his name to Blue Monday and another makey-uppy date for press release purposes – has called on people to ignore it.
The Blue Monday myth has since taken on a life of its own, with considerable media coverage each year (including on these hallowed screens) and PR firms issuing Blue Monday-themed press releases like there’s no Tuesday.
But in fact, there’s no such thing and the whole Blue Monday shebang was made up from the start. HOORAY!
https://vine.co/v/Mlriw1VJeDn
(If you’re still feeling the blues, this might cheer you up anyway.)
