The ARA’s mission is to reduce alcohol-related harm through combating the misuse and abuse of alcohol beverages and promoting only their responsible use.
Safer Schools Project
Research conducted in 1997 by the University of Cape Town and the Medical Research Council among 3000 Grade 8 and Grade 11 learners at Cape Town schools found a statistically significant relationship between drinking alcohol and absenteeism and repeating a year at school.
Since then there has been enough circumstantial evidence to suggest that the problem of underage alcohol consumption has increased. The ARA has partnered with the Western Cape Department of Education (WCED) to pilot a Prevention of Underage Drinking project in the Western Cape. The pilot ran during the third school term in 2006.
The objectives of the pilot were to:
- Improve young people’s understanding of alcohol use and its effect on the developing body
- Increase awareness and knowledge of the risks associated with alcohol consumption by those who are under age
- Raise awareness among young people of the laws restricting the consumption of alcohol, and why laws exist
- Raise awareness of abstinence as a choice in relation to alcohol
- Lay the foundation for longer term social marketing strategy aimed at changing behavior.
The approach that has been used in the ARA Good Idea/Bad Idea multimedia campaign, which has been highly successful, has been applied. The approach utilizes the peer-to-peer strategy and does not seek to “lecture” the teenagers.
It rather portrays in a realistic manner the pitfalls and dangers of underage drinking.
The challenge for the campaign communication was to remind teenagers of the potential negative outcomes prior to them consuming alcohol by providing appropriate information that will enable them to make informed choices.