National Council Against Drug Abuse launches outdoor drive

Departing from the traditional free-to-air TV platform, the pro-bono campaign aimed to reach youths through outdoor channels including poster ads at bus shelters and a series of short films, shot by local auteur Royston Tan, which will air in cinema halls and on TV Mobile - the Lion City’s TV service on buses.

The campaign’s four mini-films featured untrained talent depicting true-life stories of past addicts’ cases and is set to run until March 2009. The films are then supported by outdoor posters that depict letters from people relating their experiences with glue inhalation.

“Given that many of the addicts arrested are youths, the NCADA wanted to raise awareness of the harm glue inhalation inflicts on our teen population and deter youths from experimenting with glue-sniffing,” said Carolyn Kan, NCADA member and chairperson of the media and publicity sub-Committee. “Many youths are not aware that glue-sniffing is addictive, causes physical impairment and carries stiff penalties.”

“The key insight was that teens rebel against authority but respond to their peers. Therefore, we developed a documentary-style campaign that featured peer-messages,” said Clarence Chiew, JWT Singapore’s senior copywriter.

The campaign’s choice of media spots is to designed to get teens’ full attention so they absorb the message.

Watch the ad