The mum of Broadstairs man Gabriel Farmer, who died by suicide in May 2023, says she is disgusted to find yet another clothing company using video of her son – with the addition of an actor pretending to have been his best friend- to sell its hoodies for profit.
Gabriel’s mum Louise Knight is considering what legal action might be taken after being alerted to the use of the video of Gabriel with the addition of an actor saying he was his best friend and, incorrectly, saying he died last year.
The reel is being used by a company trading as stillherestrong but promoting itself on Facebook under the banner Mental Health Matters.
The real UK charity Mental Health Matters has confirmed the page has absolutely no affiliation to its organisation.
Gabriel lost his life to suicide aged just 23. Louise had desperately sought support but Gabriel was left without the professional intervention that may have helped him. He had been incorrectly discharged from QEQM Hospital as ‘low risk’ after a suicide attempt and sadly took his life just eight days later.
The reel was originally posted to tiktok by Louise and shows Gabriel dancing two weeks before he took his life with the message that mental health struggles can be invisible.
The original reel has had 17.2m views and Louise says it carries a powerful message that she is happy for people to share if it highlights mental health issues. However, it is now being used to sell goods, with no evidence that profits will be used for mental health support.
Louise messaged the Facebook page to complain and received an apology, with a claim the video had been deleted, although there was no explanation about the addition of a fake best friend. The reel is still visible although comments drawing attention to the deception have been removed.
Louise said: “Someone messaged me to say it was on Facebook with the actor saying he was Gabe’s best friend and Gabe died last year. The video is still there although they are deleting all the negative comments.
“It’s very upsetting anyway but particularly over Christmas. I don’t mind mental health charities using the video but this is someone lying and saying they were his best friend. They summed him up but they didn’t know him and have got no right to talk about my son’s character.
“They are not helping mental health charities but are a clothing company using the video purely to make money and putting nothing into mental health support.”
A decision has been made not to share the manipulated reel in this article.
Stillherestrong does not have a Companies House listing although there is a Still Here Clothing company which was incorporated in February but has not lodged any further documents.
This is the second time this year the reel has been taken and then had actors and false claims added simply to market clothing. In September the reel was appropriated by UK registered company Live 2 Live Ltd which then added an actress sayi9ng she was Gabriel’s sister, causing much distress to his actual sister Lilli.
In response to an enquiry from The Isle of Thanet News, Live 2 Live apologised and said the reel would be removed.
A complaint made to the Advertising Standards Agency against Live 2 Live was lodged over the reel and also misleading sponsored adverts giving the impression the company had featured in a number of large publications and had been endorsed by the NHS.
The ASA said that although the “sponsored ads fake news articles appear to be a scam, the “advertiser is based in the USA and therefore their website selling hoodies is not in our remit.”
Mental Health Matters/Stillherestrong has not responded to enquiries made via the Facebook page and its website.
