VCCP invited me yesterday, along with a bunch of other bloggers, to the premiere of the Home Office’s latest advertising campaign to tackle binge drinking amongst 18-24 year-olds. Sadly, none of us got drunk! ;)

 

The VCCP binge drinking ads form part of a wider government campaign aimed at educating consumers about alcohol. There are plenty of other good ads out there, such as the alcohol units campaign also by VCCP but also this print poster by TBWA.    

 

The meet up took place in Covent Garden at the bottom of Long Acre (towards Holborn) where there is currently a Selfridges-type window display with mannequins mirroring the TV ads. Passers-by can download a viral ad via Bluetooth on their phone, and also watch the TV commercials being broadcast in the windows.

 

 

 

Unfortunately I never received the Bluetooth ad – I think the poster should be a little clearer and let people know that they will firstly receive a push message and will then have to enter the code to receive the ad. How about giving a free number people can text to receive the ad instead?  Here’s the viral ad:

 

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrDUiCrmp8I]

 

 

Binge drinking is indeed a very serious problem in the UK and advertising won’t solve the problem, but early education could mean prevention.  Hard facts:

  • A recent survey shows that Britain has the most drunk teenagers in the world
  • Around 40% of A&E admissions are alcohol related
  • There are 1.2 million incident of alcohol related violence a year
  • Alcohol related crimes cost £7.3bn

 

VCCP have come up with a series of print, radio, TV, and a viral advert targeted at 18-24s with the strapline ‘you wouldn’t start a night like this so why end it this way.’

 

I really like the fact VCCP have created two different ads for both male and female drinkers as male and female behaviour under the influence of alcohol is very different. I really like the concept of showing people what they look like when they are drunk as it works as a reminder of how they might have behaved/what they would have looked like after a heavy night out. 

 

The male version of the ad shows a guy getting reading to go on a night out, smearing food onto his shirt, peeing on his shoes, ripping his earring out and violently kicking his stereo.

 

The female version of the ad shows a girl ripping her tights and shirt off, throwing up, smearing make up all over her face, pouring wine over her jacket and breaking her stilettos.

 

Both ads convey a very strong message – binge drinking is disgusting and can result in disgraceful behaviour. In fact, the male and female ads almost made me feel sick! Am I being too squeamish?

 

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