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TBWA London Uses Humour and Vanity to Help DASL Target Female Drinkers

27\05\2008

View ‘Drink Like A Man’

‘If you drink like a man, you might end up looking like one’ is the idea behind the campaign we’ve just launched for DASL, the Drugs and Alcohol Service.

To try and tackle binge drinking amongst females, the press and poster campaign is based on the belief that women are more likely to revise their drinking habits to preserve their looks than to maintain good health. The damage that alcohol can cause to your looks is a powerful truth that we hope will motivate many women to reappraise the amount of drinks they consume.

Commissioned by TBWA\LONDON, YouGov research into binge drinking found that women are concerned about the onset of the physical side effects of alcohol consumption, such as bad skin, premature ageing and weight gain. Perhaps worryingly, a key finding of the study is that weight gain is more likely to make women reconsider their drinking habits than heart disease.

Unlike other health campaigns TBWA\LONDON uses humour and vanity to communicate the dangers of alcohol rather than shock factors or preaching. By making people laugh the ad triggers banter between friends and drives talkability, firmly rooting the campaign in popular culture, helping the message spread exponentially amongst its target audience.

Supporting the campaign, a digital application produced by Skive allows people to insert a current photo and enter their weekly intake of alcohol. Their face is then altered and the result is a terrifying insight into what they could look like in years to come. Partnering with Bebo to target the younger generation, the digital campaign encourages them to reappraise their drinking habits at an early age. The application is a fun and interactive way of communicating a serious message. To see what you would look like in years to come click here

Steve Henry, Creative Director at TBWA\LONDON adds, “Very few of us can imagine what something like “heart disease” means. But we all have bad hair days! So a message about how binge drinking can affect your looks is bound to resonate with everybody. But the ad is particularly powerful, I believe, because it tackles another issue. The fact that some women are ignoring the physiological differences between the sexes when it comes to alcohol. I think we’ve got a very striking image and a genuinely involving website too.”

Harrinder Dhillon, Service Director DASL, comments, “Women are clearly not reacting to the health warnings by the government and drinking amongst females is getting worse year on year. Plus there is still a misunderstanding amongst women regarding the levels of alcohol that constitute binge drinking. We therefore felt it was important to try another tack. Despite understanding the health dangers related to drinking, liver or heart disease seems a long way off! Our campaign, created by TBWA\LONDON highlights the physical side effects of binge drinking, striking a chord with every woman around the country. After all no woman wants to look like a man.”

The ad is running across several outdoor advertising sites in the London Underground all donated by Posterscope. It is also due to appear in Marie Claire’s July issue.

Since the campaign launched it has been causing quite a stir. So far the campaign has been picked up in the national news, including the Daily Mail, the Daily Star and the Evening Standard as well as a number of blogs. This can only indicate that the message is proving to be rather powerful.

Author:

Sushil Hunjan

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