Tside » Does Government advertising work?

Does Government advertising work?

By Araminta Hartley Added 10.32am, 21-May-09

Hard hitting tv adverts have been created to warn teenagers about the dangers of drugs, alcohol and STD’S. Alcoholic drinks

However, with the use of pro-alcohol adverts like ‘Lambrini girls just want to have fun’ and men even asking where they can buy the Calvin Klein style boxers brandishing the STD name Chlamydia, are any of these adverts getting taken seriously?

The Talk to Frank helpline launched a £3 million pound advertising campaign to get people who have been affected by drugs to call their helpline. The adverts aimed to raise the issue of Cocaine abuse with the help of Comedian and Peep Show star David Mitchell to do the voice over for the main character, which is a drug mule dog named Pablo.

The advert tells the story of a dog waking up dead to find a gaping hole in his stomach, where cocaine has been stored to try and smuggle it. Along Pablo’s journey he comes across paranoid users and aggressive drug dealers, including a woman who asks if Pablo can lend her a tenner where he bluntly replies ‘No, I’m a dog’.

The actual advert which lasts only one minute cost £1 million to make and is simple and straight to the point, with a mix of humour that you wouldn’t expect to find in a serious campaign to get people to stop taking or dealing in drugs. The novelty of having animations of hearts pumping faster and a person’s nose shouting ‘I’m bleeding!’ shows the viewers how Cocaine can affect them; of course your nose won’t scream at you every time it bleeds though.

Since the reclassification of Cannabis to a class B drug, the government decided to issue a new multimillion pound advertising campaign targeting teenagers, to highlight the harsh side-effects of smoking Cannabis, including Paranoia and panic attacks.

The Campaign which was developed by ad agency Mother includes TV, Radio and Online advertising where it features a teenager called Simon smoking a joint. The ad focuses on the actions of his brain where he splits into different personalities showing the side effects of Cannabis. The advert first shows the positive side of Cannabis, if there ever is one, with Simon being shown as ‘Dr Cool’ as well as happy and having the munchies. Unfortunately there is a largely negative effect of drug abuse with Simon’s ‘party’ being gatecrashed by paranoia, memory loss and panic attacks, yet these Frank adverts don’t seem to be taken seriously with the uncovering of a YouTube spoof of Pablo the drug mule.

Going by the username GorgonFace64, the youtuber saw the Talk to Frank advert, and instead of thinking the campaign did justice on highlighting a serious drug issue, he decided to remake the advert with a friend and joke about the use of ‘coke’ by drinking cola instead and covering themselves in ketchup to resemble a bleeding nose.

He didn’t reveal his name but said, “I thought the advert was really funny. I know it’s a serious issue, but if you’re going to use Mitchell’s voice, what do you expect? I did a remake with my friend because I liked the advert, its comical genius and the whole mix of serious with comedy left me laughing for ages.”

I asked a couple of students what they thought of the Frank adverts with Sarah Halliday saying, “I thought it was very funny, but it does touch on a serious issue. If it was a boring advert just giving you the facts no-one would take notice.”

On the other hand, Anthony Thomas, 19, said, “I don’t think the adverts make any difference. If a drug user saw that they would just laugh it off and wouldn’t pay attention as they wouldn’t think anything bad would happen to them”

The advertising world is a serious business and it seems everytime you turn on the TV you are bound to find an advert on. As well as advertising against illegal drugs, there are also campaigns to reduce binge drinking, one of which being aimed at 18-24 year olds and costing £4 million to advertise.

The adverts are aimed to show binge drinkers the type of mess they can end up in if they drink too much, with the Tv adverts showing men and women in a reverse sequence of a night gone wrong. The sequences show a girl having sick in her hair and make up smeared across her face as she leaves the house, and the male having an earring torn out of his ear and a bloody nose as well as food all down his clothes.

The aim is to shock viewers who drink alcohol and embarrass them as to how badly alcohol affects them, with the message behind the ads saying, you wouldn’t start a night out like that; which is true, as everyone gets ready to go out and have a good time, and alcohol can make you feel invicible, but the truth is that alcohol makes you vulnerable and weak.

That’s why when I see the adverts that are pro alcohol, they won’t show you a person throwing up on the street or arguing at the kebab shop, because they haven’t given you enough chips, as the whole point of the advert is to get you to buy their alcohol, not tell you the harmful effects of drinking to excess.

Adverts for Lambrini show girls having fun and dancing together in an upbeat mood, making it seem like alcohol enhances your happiness, and the WKD adverts for men have the slogan ‘Have you got a WKD side?’ showing the men having a laugh such as robot dancing with a drill or going into the gym to use the jacuzzi with the ending showing a group of friends socialising while reaching for a WKD.

The use of socialising is strong in adverts, as we all normally go out for a drink with friends with the Southern Comfort advert emphasising on that fact with a mix of bright colours and everyone laughing and having a good time while drinking, using alcohol for its purpose of socialising and getting together with friends.

However by encouraging people to drink alcohol, advertisements can be misinterpreted, as although pro-alcohol adverts now display a significantly small message at the bottom of the ad stating ‘drink respsonbily’, it seems if you don’t have an alcoholic drink in your hand, you won’t be popular and have lots of friends to socialise with.

This is all despite the fact that there are multimillion pound campaigns striving to clamp down on alcoholism and show what happens to people when they drink too much, but it seems the pro-alcohol adverts overpower these campaigns to stop binge drinking, leaving people confused as to how they should approach alcohol.

Unfortunately an effect of drinking alcohol can lead to one night stands and having unprotected sex, which is when people are vulnerable to catching STD’s, although it doesn’t necessarily have to be a one night stand.

Unprotected sex can end up with females getting pregnant, or the complete opposite and catch an STD like Chlamydia which is fairly undetectable and can make women infertile.

The STD adverts are shown on TV, as well as constantly advertised during the previews before the main feature at the cinema, if the film is a rating of 12A and over, to reach out their target audience.

The ad shows couples, with underwear having the name of STD’s on them and a belt saying gonorrhea to tell us that anyone could have them and if you’re not protected you could catch them.

Safe sex is promoted by the NHS through this advert, but it fails to show us the effects of these diseases and expects people to know how they can affect them, as they may not know what Chlamydia is.

I was shocked to find out that students weren’t really interested in the message of the ad, with boys rudely wondering where they can get hold of the boxers from the advert that say the name of an STD on them, while girls were appalled by the boy’s behaviour, as the topic had not been taken seriously.

Jennifer Connelly, 22, said, “I think it’s disgusting that people think sexually transmitted diseases are a laughing matter, and alcohol and drugs can lead to serious problems in life. I mean, who wants to wake up with a humongous hangover the next morning not knowing what happened the night before, or take drugs to make you feel better when really there are bad side effects, with the worst case scenario being death. But people just laugh at these matters and don’t take notice of the serious issues at hand that are being advertised to warn people. I believe these adverts are effective and they show real life situations, but if there are adverts for distilled vodka or sparkling wine during the same break as the anti-abuse ads, which has happened; it’s going to send out the wrong messages.”