Codemasters puts mental health awareness ads in Dirt 5, GRID and more

Codemasters has extended the UK Government messaging used on trackside advertising in its racing games to add mental health awareness campaigns.

Starting today, geotargeting technology will see players of Dirt 5, Dirt Rally 2.0 and GRID based in the UK start seeing banners and advertising hoardings with official Government advice on them.

There will be two Government messages on these ads: “Stay Home, Protect the NHS, Save Lives” (the current slogan to encourage people to stay at home during the pandemic), and “Every Mind Matters” (designed to offer support for mental wellbeing).

The COVID-19 health messaging first started appearing in Codemasters’ games last year. Rebellion and King also put “Stay Home, Protect the NHS, Save Lives” ads in their games.

Codemasters will be including its ads with the help of Bidstack, who specialise in geo-targeted advertising banners in games. This ensures that players located outside of the UK won’t receive the messaging.

“We’re delighted to continue being able to support government messaging, whilst we look forward to lockdown easing,” said John Merchant, Marketing Director at Codemasters.

“It’s great being able to use our games to direct players to mental wellbeing advice. Even if we can help just one person then this has been a worthwhile addition.”

“We’re really proud to be working with the UK Government, Public Health England and our partners Codemasters again to reach audiences that might not have engaged with these important messages across other media channels,” added Bidstack CEO James Draper.

“Delivering health messages, and particularly those around mental wellbeing in what is a trying time for many people, is something we are delighted our tech can offer. For those in need of support it has the potential to make a huge difference.”

Dirt 5 was added to the Xbox Game Pass service last week.