Steph Curry Appears in Eye-Popping Ad to Promote Mental Health and Wellness Campaign

Steph Curry will be a public face of mental health and wellness after appearing in a crazy ad for Kaiser Permanente.

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One of Steph Curry's strengths as a front-man is his ability to appeal to the average Joe. Fans might not be able to identify with muscle-bound seven footers, but they can look at the diminutive guard and see a little bit of themselves in the Warriors star.

That's what healthcare company Kaiser Permanente is banking on in their new ad campaign featuring Curry and fellow point guard Chris Paul. In the debut spot, Curry submerges himself in a water-filled pod as echoes of his critics bounce around his head.

That's where things start to get a little — okay a lot — weird, as Curry descends into a twisted hellscape of jellyfish-like nets and plunging basketballs. Eventually, he is able to silence the doubters and emerge from the water with a clearer state of mind, walking toward the court determined to succeed.

Mental health and wellness is not exactly a mainstream field for athletes to promote, but Kaiser Permanente saw Curry as the ideal spokesman for their cause. Though Curry has reached the pinnacle of his sport with MVP awards and a championship to his credit, he's also had to pick himself off the canvas after suffering devastating losses. Last year's collapse in the NBA Finals and ankle injuries that almost derailed his career presented mental and physical hurdles for Curry to overcome, so there are few NBA stars as qualified as he is to speak on the power of overcoming adversity. Those well-known stories of ups and downs are not dissimilar to the ebb and flow of everyday life. 

I'm not sure they needed to use the distorted imagery you see up top to achieve that goal, but it's a spot you're likely to remember for better or worse. If you can cope with swimming past nets that look like dangerous sea creatures, you can probably mentally move past blowing a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals.  

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