Getting the kids to stay off the booze is one of the trickier public service announcements agencies can get tasked to do.
And when Danish safe drinking group TrygFonden and the Danish Cancer Society came knocking with a brief around young people and excessive drinking, creative agency Robert/Boisen answered it in an unusual but hilarious fashion.
The ad, the starts with a frankfurt-esque homage to the classic film American Beauty, stars a young Danish chap by the name of Mads and his valiant attempts to fend off his friends’ attempts to feed him a host of different sausages.
That’s right, the snags are simply a metaphor for booze and, strangely, the ad works an absolute treat.
Apparently, the spot is based on research by the World Health Organisation which labelled Danish teenagers the drunkest in all of Europe.
Four out of five 15-year-olds have tried alcohol, stats show, as have one out of three 13-year-olds. Young drinkers are more likely to overindulge as adults, studies show. The issue not helped by the fact that the legal age to buy alcohol in Denmark is 16.
Check out the spot below. And, B&T apologises for the subtitles.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3Av7D3FYKk
Commenting on the spot, a Robert/Boisen spokesperson said of the ad: “Recent studies show that nine out of 10 young Danes have been peer pressured to drink more alcohol than they wanted. That’s an outrageous number, which clearly indicates that we Danes often struggle to reflect on our alcohol culture. Alcohol is simply a ubiquitous part of our society.
“[The ad] bypasses the very effective ad filter that most young people automatically activate when met by communication online. After all, “what’s more absurd than a wagonload of sausages replacing the usual alcoholic beverages as party starters?” the spokesperson said.
