GW Hatchet Columnist: “Confessions of a Binge Drinker”
GW Hatchet...Following up on last week’s article in Advertising Age about anti-binge drinking advertisements that backfire with their intended audiences, GW Hatchet columnist Evan Schwartz sketched out his alternative vision of a responsible drinking campaign. He wrote that many anti-binge drinking advertisements fail to focus on the root of the problem, and are therefore ineffective:
“If anyone wants to effectively combat the problem of binge drinking, humiliation is not the way to go…Saying that underage drinking is illegal and binge drinking is dangerous does not make the problem go away, in the same way that humiliating someone who is binge drinking will not make that person stop.
Simply telling people who have a hangover that they should be ashamed of themselves is not effective; treating the source of the problem is. How many partying college kids even know that what they’re doing is considered ‘binge drinking?’ Setting a realistic threshold, and making sure people are aware of what they are doing, may help kids keep their drinking totals down. Letting kids know that drinking to solve other problems is not appropriate or effective is better than shaming them into changing.”
Which types of these advertisements do you think are the most effective? Let us know in the comments.