CU-Â鶹¹ÙÍø Professor Larry Weisberg gave his advertising campaigns class a tough assignment this semester: Create a campaign aimed at college students which promotes responsible decision-making in regard to alcohol.
Two teams of students conducted focus groups, studied similar ad campaigns and thought long and hard about what could keep students from binge drinking.
Last week, the School of Journalism and Mass Communication students presented their ideas to the Standing Committee on Substance Abuse (SCOSA); Vice Chancellor Jean Kim; Bob Maust, director of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant, A Matter of Degree; Henry Wechsler, Harvard scholar and expert on binge drinking; Sandy A. Hoover, deputy director of the American Medical Association for A Matter of Degree; and Â鶹¹ÙÍø community officials.
Weisberg said he was excited to provide a worthwhile service to the campus and the community. "I guess this is the Total Learning Environment at work," he said. Students had the choice to work – for free – on this campaign or one for Steamboat Springs. "It made me proud that so many chose to work on the responsible drinking campaign. It gives me hope," Weisberg said.
"People are bombarded with so many messages," said senior Aaron Voelker. "We strived to plant memorable seeds in hopes they keep even one person from overdoing it."
Both teams concentrated on social messages to promote responsibility about drinking – although the tactics they used are different.
o Students Against Irresponsible Drinking (SAID) developed a campaign centered on activities people can't (or shouldn't) participate in when hung over. One of their ads shows a snowboarder leaping in the air with the message "For a good time tomorrow, drink responsibly tonight."
CU senior Chris LaRocque said his team recognized that not all students would respond to such a message, so they varied the campaign. An idea SAID has for a series of ads is modeled after Playboy magazine's centerfold. CU defensive back Ryan Chiaverini agreed to be in one of the ads, which says his turn-ons are "ESPN, 50,000 screaming fans at Folsom Field, ice cream and sober dates!" His turn-offs include "sloppy drunk chicks."
"From first look, you can't even tell this is an ad for responsible drinking. This ad is intended to reach students who don't respond to any fear tactics," LaRocque said.
o Positively Trashed: Students for Responsible Drinking took a more risqué approach. "You need to remember the language should be something that sounds like peers talking to peers, not an authority talking down to people," said Weisberg.
With that in mind, Positively Trashed developed an ad which depicts a woman looking into a toilet bowl. Inside she sees a man buying drinks for her at a bar. The copy says, "He paid last night, you'll pay today."
"We wanted to shake people up – to make them think twice about ordering another drink," senior Aaron Voelker said. "We found through focus groups that students didn't react to fear tactics because they can't imagine something tragic happening to them. So we took on social issues like STDs (sexually transmitted diseases), poor sexual performance and social idiots."
The team developed the character of the ultimate social idiot/binge drinker named the Party Monkey. "The Party Monkey basically ruins everyone's time," said junior Robert Espinoza. Positively Trashed developed ads where the Party Monkey is vomiting on other people and is passed out in the corner. "Don't be the Party Monkey" is the message.
"The response at last week's presentation was overwhelmingly positive," said Maust. "Members of SCOSA agreed that these peer-based campaigns could be quite successful."
Weisberg said he has talked to campus officials and corporations about sponsoring production and placement of the ads.
"We'd love to see posters in bathrooms in each bar on The Hill," Weisberg said. Students are also working with local radio station KBCO to arrange discounted airtime to get their message across. AMA representative Hoover told Weisberg she hopes to run the ads in an upcoming AMA newsletter.