ARA

November 2009 saw the launch of a series of hard-hitting ARA television adverts aimed at educating parents on the impact of their drinking behaviour on their children. The campaign creates a direct link to this message about parents needing to behave responsibly for the benefit of their children - and has been received with critical acclaim from the liquor industry and the advertising fraternity.

The storyline

This campaign is said to have broken the mould of responsible alcohol consumption advertising, which usually relies on shock value. According to Anton Visser of Velocity, who directed the ads on behalf of Lowe Bull, “In this campaign you’re trying to show people that their kids are affected by even the smallest transgressions and that their kids will most likely learn these same bad habits.

To me, the stroke of genius is to make the scenarios relatively innocuous and “harmless” and to relate them to familiar situations that most parents find themselves in. If these scripts contained moments of bigger drama, most people would say, “That’s not me.” But picking your kids up at a party or going to your kid’s sports day, these are situations that most parents can’t help but identify with”.

The three scenarios depicted in this campaign are:

• Dad having had more than his fair share to drink and abusing the referee and coach at his young son’s school rugby match
• Mom being arrested at a roadblock for being over the limit when collecting her daughter and friends from a party
• Father trying to give a meaningful speech at his daughter’s 21st birthday party but failing dismally.