Sunday, April 26, 2009
Our project focuses on drinking safely while still having fun. Our goal is to educate the public through humorous and light-hearted public service announcements to be aired over the radio and possibly through other forms of media as well. They will be play at strategically based times when people will be consuming alcohol. We hope that through the education of our audience about certain facts regarding alcohol's effects and the social implications of drinking that our audience will be able to formulate their own decisions instead of just being told what to do (because no one actually likes or responds well to being told what to do).
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I really thought you took an interesting spin on the topic of drinking. I was anticipating the results of your project after a long lead up to it and all of the "hype" around it after your group kept it a secret for so long. I was pleasantly surprised at the direction you took. I especially like that the purpose of your project is to show people they can still have fun and drink responsibly. That is not found many places, because most of the time you either see commercials for Bacardi, or Baileys and they are at a party drinking and the slogan is "Drink Responsibly", but what is that? Most people probably do not know what it means to be responsible with alcohol (I am targeting this statement mainly at younger people) and the other set of commercials for drinking tends to be something like an Allstate commercial about drunk driving, and you are safe in their hands, or you see a commercial with a car filling with water representing alcohol and it is consuming the driver. I agree that many commercials are outdated for what they are trying to show. There are these two extremes and nothing really in the middle.
ReplyDeleteDo you plan on making more advertisements? One suggestion is to incorporate more facts in your advertisements. You did a great job explaining the drinking problems in Hollywood with the people you mentioned, but I would have liked to see a little bit more information included. I liked that you showed how alcohol affects certain aspects of the brain, such as slurring your speech, and some of the facts you mentioned most people have learned about in a nutrition class of some sort, but many people forget how long it takes to metabolize alcohol.
I really liked your radio advertisements and thought it was a good way to target young people, however, there is a concern about the timing of your ads. You mentioned that you wanted to air them at a time when people would be drinking. I am not sure how effective this actually is. How many people do you know that drink and listen to the radio? Most of the time people turn on their ipods at a party, or are somewhere like the terrace or a bar. I am not sure how many people would be targeted by this ad if you air it at that time. I think it is still a good idea to air it, but what if you used other types of medias, like the Internet? What about a print ad in the Badger Herald or Daily Cardinal? I think you should try and get your message across by using more types of media that will target a larger population than those who just listen to the radio.
While this was not the newest of topics, I was very impressed with the spin that your group took on the presentation of your materials along with the idea of using humorous public service announcements to inform drinking patrons about safe alcohol use. You took a good approach to the whole project, focusing not on a condemnation of alcohol and drinking, but discussing the fact that while alcohol can be abused and used in irresponsible ways, it also can be drank responsibly and in a way that promotes safe, clean fun. You hit the nail on the head by stressing that “no one actually likes or responds well to being told what to do”, because this couldn’t be more true. The idea of approaching people in a very non-confrontational way will go a long ways towards making individuals receptive to the information that you will be displaying through your announcements.
ReplyDeleteReferring to your announcements, I would also stress that while they should be humorous, try to also include hard evidence and facts about the consequences that can incur when drinking irresponsibly. Perhaps include numbers referring to drunk driving accidents or to those who have had to be hospitalized due to overdosing, but also be as short and concise as possible. Economical use of language is hugely important here, because the more drawn out the announcement is, the less likely you’ll be to keep the attention of the listeners. Short and sweet is the name of the game.
Lastly, I think your project has a whole lot of potential to make a difference. The one thing to keep in mind is to differentiate yourself from others who have tried to accomplish the same goals that you are striving for. People get very bored and tend to tune out things that they’ve heard countless times before, and by taking a new and innovative approach to this project, you have a real opportunity to influence the general public.