NPHIC News - February 2014 - Vol. 25, No. 1 Page 14

Would You Kiss a Dead Skunk?

By Brad Christensen

That's one of the questions posed by the Iowa Department of
Public Health in a multi-million-dollar effort to graphically reveal
how excessive drinking can harm your health and scar the way
family and friends view you.

"Changes You" is the latest of three media campaigns that are
featured. It shows how excessive drinking can permanently
damage how a parent is viewed by their children. It is running
throughout the winter months in 23 counties with the most
serious binge-drinking patterns. The campaign focuses on
adults ages 25-44 and includes a television commercial, radio
commercial, billboard copy, web banners and posters/print ads.
The television commercial is

here

"It's hoped this series of television and radio ads, along with social
media outreach, will bring home the toll binge drinking can take
on a family," says Julie Hibben, the project director. "Children who
see their parents drunk never look at them the same way again."

"Changes You" joins two continuing campaigns that target
younger Iowans.

"Stay Classy" (

http://www.stayclassyiowa.org/

) seeks to reduce

binge drinking by young adults. It urges the setting of limits
when drinking by revealing in videos and photos some of the
embarrassing and dangerous things young people do when drunk.

A photo titled "A New Kind of Bed" shows a young man passed out
on the floor of a bus or train wearing only his underwear. But

this

bizarre video

titled "You Stink at Making Out" really drives the

point home. It shows a "drunk-as-skunk" female actually kissing a
dead skunk!

"Stay Classy" also includes a 10-question quiz about binge
drinking that in part debunks some of the myths, including
notions that a high tolerance allows you to stay under the legal
limit or that black coffee or a cold shower can help you sober up.

The other continuing campaign is "What Do You Throw Away?"
(

www.whatdoyouthrowaway.org

) It's aimed at teenagers with

the message that underage drinking "costs you more than your
parents' trust, a spot on the team and your friends. It'll cost you
your individuality."

That campaign's featured video asks, "What will you throw
away if you start drinking?" as beer bottle caps tumble down,
each bearing words/phrases such as "your future," "college
opportunities," "trust," "your GPA," "respect," "your dreams," etc.

All three campaigns are funded through a federal Strategic
Prevention Framework State Incentive Grant, which is a five-
year, $2.135 million per year cooperative agreement awarded
to Iowa in 2009 by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Service Administration. According to CDC's Behavior Risk Factor
Surveillance System, Iowa had the fifth highest rate of adult binge
drinking among the states in 2010. Those with higher rates were
Wisconsin, Nebraska, North Dakota and Massachusetts.