Underage Drinking Prevention is something that is extremely important and has become an opportunity that supporters can be a part of. A couple of campaigns have been using this fact to their own advantage. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA) is running advertisement campaigns to encourage parents, children, and volunteers to communicate about preventing underage drinking to reduce future problems with alcoholism.
Campaigns such as the Ad Council’s “Underage Drinking Prevention” commercial, the “Too Smart to Starts” campaign and the “Reach Out Now” campaign. These commercials are worth looking at because the last thing you would want is for your friend, sibling, or child to be sucked into a life of alcoholic addiction. The commercial by the Ad Council raises awareness and reminds parents to talk to their kids and to prevent them from falling into peer pressure. Likewise the “Too Smart to Start” campaign encourages children to take the initiative and talk to their parents. Lastly, the “Reach Out Now” campaign is a nationwide effort aimed at Fifth graders. It is a school- based curriculum which teaches the children the basics of the dangers of drinking underage.Indeed these campaigns are created to motivate the young and the old to join a worthy cause.
“In seven years, I will become an alcoholic… I’ll start drinking in the 8th grade” These are the words you hear in the Ad Council’s Drug Prevention Commercial. The setting of this commercial is in an Alcohol Anonymous session. The young girl clearly states that she will be a potential drinker in the near future. It’s funny how in the commercial no one seems surprised to hear that, but that’s exactly how the advertisers want us to realize. Young people are not only putting themselves in danger but also increasing the risks of a drinking problem in the future. That’s a wake-up call to us viewers.
The Ad Council’s commercial suggest that parents communicate with their children. In fact, research shows that many parents belittle the actuality that their teen children may even consider drinking alcohol. By using a child as an example, this commercial appalls the intended audience, the parents or guardians, and helps them understand that they are not yet too late to work things out with their young ones. The main message you get from this is that any adult, especially parents, really need to figure out a way to help prevent a future alcoholic problem. If you don’t stop them now, it’ll be too late. Underage alcohol use is more likely to kill young people than all other illegal drugs combined.*
Along the same lines, the SAMHSA launched a national prevention program that targets pre-teens. . The “Too Smart to Start” program is an awareness campaign that is designed to educate pre-teens and teens and provide professionals and volunteers with material and strategies to help them take action in preventing underage drinking prevention. The idea behind this campaign is to reach out to children and caregivers before children start drinking alcohol.
Take a look at this ad, and well you see the confusion in her face, maybe even a bit of nervousness. Why? Well it’s very hard for a number of teens and children to talk so openly with their parents on a subject that isn’t as suitable of a conversation to have with them. Hence the “Too Smart to Start” campaign was created. The ad persuades teenagers to break down the wall of uneasiness and discuss with their parents personal concerns and problems they have on drinking, drugs, etc. It may be difficult at first but it is crucially important! Which leads to the question, what other way can we inform others.
Well many of us know that the majority of children do not drink, but with the “Reach Out Now” campaign we want to make sure that doesn’t happen. To counter the consumption of drinking by youngsters, they provide lessons on understanding the effects of alcohol. Their goal is to provide school-based underage drinking prevention materials to every fifth grade classroom nationwide.
Their website suggests that parents should get involved in their child's life. They should make and enforce clear and consistent rules and serve as a positive role model. Guardians should help their child know how to choose their friends wisely, and be aware of the child's activities. Hands on interaction gives you a better chance to involve yourself with the children and make them more interested in your idea.
The creators and contributors of these campaigns are intended for their audience to upgrade their awareness of children falling into an addiction to underage drinking. The messages in general of these three commercials and ads can be interpreted in a different way, because of the different viewers and their way of seeing it. If a group of drinkers see these they wouldn’t think it matters if kids drink or not. On the other hand,if a group of adults see them there would be more of a pathos appeal because it gets emotional for parents to see this type of problem in the youth. In the same way maybe if children see this some may want to talk to their folks while others may ignore it. So it really depends who is watching and what they want the message to mean to them.
They each have their own uniqueness, which at times is good. Among these three ads two out of three are more effective then the third. The first ad, which is the Ad Council’s commercial, is effective. Its effective, because it doesn’t make you go paranoid about your children, they just want you to talk to them. The second commercial, “Too Smart to Start” campaign, is also very effective. They want kids to realize that its ok to talk to your parents and tell them what is going on in your life.
The last ad I feel isn’t very effective. It lacks information, creativity, and attraction. The ad if you look at it literary “reaches” out. It is plain in use of creativity but they’re not trying to get you to look at their ad, they want you to look past the ad and into their outreach. Its simple and well people may over look it, because of its simplicity. This isn’t a very good way to attract people’s attention but different people think different ways. Overall these commercials are not saying that all children are/will drink in the future, but just to make sure they know the outcome.
So in conclusion, these campaigns are a reminder for everyone to be alert and be prepared to prevent this horrible drinking addiction. Parents need take some time out of their day and talk to their kids before it’s too late. Likewise the youngsters should take a deep breath and talk to their folks. Take a good look at these campaigns because these awareness campaigns will be going on and on even if they aren’t shown on television all the time. The time to do something about underage drinking is before it becomes a problem.
*NIAAA and NIH, Alcohol Alert, 59; April 2003