Alcoholics Anonymous Reviews

The Home Office is out to quench students' thirsts for alcohol with a multi-million pound, multi-media campaign, designed to shock

Bladdered. Rat-arsed. Sozzled. Wasted. Smashed. The extraordinary number of synonyms we have for getting pissed must say it all about Brits and our attitude to alcohol.

The statistics almost for themselves. The British Crime Survey shows that 46 per cent of victims of violent incidents believed the offender to be under the influence of alcohol and 18-24 year-olds are most often associated with alcohol related offences.

Little wonder then that the government is so keen to discourage youngsters from hitting the bottle that is has just launched a high-profile £4 million media assault across television, radio, and the web. With one advert aimed at boys and one at girls, this week saw the premiere of the commercials targeting 18-24 year olds.

The adverts reverse the sequence of a drinking session gone wrong, showing a young man and woman preparing for a night out. The young man can be seen tearing his clothes, smearing himself in a take-away, ripping his earring out (with accompanying sound-effect), urinating on himself, and proceeding to thrust his face into his wardrobe door.

The girl has the indignity of wetting herself, throwing up in the bathroom sink, rearranging the vomit in her hair and breaking the heel off her shoe, before hobbling out of the house ready to paint the town red. The ads carry the punchy strap line: "You wouldn't start a night like this, so why end it that way?"

The government is clearly resorting to shock-tactics reminiscent of the campaign against drink driving, but with 50 per cent of girls and 44 per cent of boys in England having been drunk at least twice by the age of 15 – according to a World Health Organisation report – they have an uphill struggle ahead of them. For the average British youngster, drinking in moderation is a thoroughly alien concept. “Responsible” drinking is consigned to a small-print suggestion in the corner of adverts like these.

The brains behind the campaign wanted to avoid it being didactic in favour of driving home a hard-hitting message; torn clothes and vomit-encrusted hair are just the comparatively lighter side of alcohol taken beyond its limits. On the darker side, the consequences of drinking yourself to distraction can be physical assault or even rape.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith warns: "Binge drinking is not only damaging to health but it makes individuals vulnerable to harm. People who are drunk are much more likely to be involved in an accident or assault, be charged with a criminal offence, contract a sexually transmitted disease or have an unplanned pregnancy."

The tentacles of the campaign certainly extend far wider than a traditional TV campaign and sound bites from the Home Secretary. In a bid to create as much buzz as possible around the campaign, there is a viral video intended to sweep the net (even more graphic than the TV ads). The government will also be targeting Facebook, YouTube, and the like.

To help launch the campaign, a fashion display taking up a four-window shop front has been unveiled in London's Covent Garden. It looks like a rather twisted reimagining of a Harvey Nichols' shop front showcasing what's de rigueur for any self-respecting young binge-drinker.

Among the neon lights of your average high-fashion window display, there are half-dressed mannequins stooping and staggering in their underwear. One female mannequin is replete with what looks like the latest designer dress, but stands above a distinctly personal puddle.

Most London city slickers appeared to pass by the subversive "Nightlife Collection", as it has been branded, without so much as a second glance. However, the display did intrigue a few passers-by enough to take a second look, helped along by some clipboard-wielding girls in black "KNOW YOUR LIMITS" T-shirts quizzing youngsters on their drinking habits. The set-up will be on display for the next fortnight in Long Acre, WC2 (with the clipboard ladies on hand at weekends) and there are plans to recreate the scene in a town centre near you.

With delicious irony, there happens to be a pub directly opposite the faux shop-front. Unfortunately, drinkers leaving The Freemason's Arms will not likely be confronted by the thought-provoking display. Blinds are drawn across the window displays as the evening dawns, because those coming to the end of a heady night out are thought not to appreciate the message of the campaign. "They wouldn't be receptive to it" was the description by one of the people involved in the campaign's conception (a veiled reference to fears of drink-fuelled vandalism, perhaps). Is this proof to the sceptics that the campaign is doomed to fail? Or is it perhaps just further evidence that the government message is more prescient now than ever?

Times Online