City Ads Target Heavy Drinking

A new series of print, radio and television advertisements that graphically depict the results of excessive drinking recently hit the Hub.

The "Party Smart" campaign, developed by a 34-member coalition of city officials and community leaders, is a series of nine print advertisements, five radio spots and a commercial on MTV.

"Lots of times when people have had too much to drink they make themselves look like a fool, and that's how the campaign hits," said Nancy Lo, director of consumer affairs and licensing for the city of Boston.

"If you drink too much, you're making yourself look stupid," Lo said.

The print ads, which are displayed in MBTA stations and will continue to run in college newspapers, include images of a man with urine-soaked pants, a young man whose shirt is covered with vomit and a student who is passed-out over a toilet.

Radio spots include graphic messages such as a step-by-step description of a stomach pumping.

"We don't want this to be a 'Just Say No' campaign," Lo said.

"We found out from our research that when kids go to college...[they] want to make [their] own decisions," she said.

"The campaign is about getting [students] to make responsible decisions that will be safe to them and to the city as a whole," she said.

The campaign was established in response to the death of Scott Krueger, an MIT first-year student who died last fall of alcohol poisoning after a fraternity party.

Boston has 131,000 college students who comprise 15 percent of the city's population, according to a city press release.

A recent study by Henry Wechsler, lecturer of social psychology at Harvard's School of Public Health, indicates that students who drink are drinking more heavily than five years ago, and that 52.3 percent of all college students drink with the intention of getting drunk.

Wechsler found that students who drink to excess are more likely to fight, damage property and get arrested.

Harvard students said yesterday they do not think the campaign will be effective.

"I think everyone already knows the consequence of drinking too much," said Michael T. McKnight '00, "but it doesn't stop them."

Jane L. Risen '01 said advertisements that focus on the life and death issues of excessive drinking may have a greater impact on students.

"I think the more effective ads are the ones with drunk driving, because they scare people," Risen said. "That's death, and not just your death but someone else's."

The print ads will appear in The Phoenix, Stuff at Night, The Improper Bostonian and The Boston Herald.

Radio ads will be broadcast on WBCN-FM, 104.1, WXKS-FM, 107.9 and WSNX-FM, 104.5.

Party Smart will also sponsor events during the year, including block parties, Lo said.