Young creatives who have used their skills to sell bands such as
the Verve, Oasis and Pulp are now turning to drugs.
Convinced that previous Government campaigns have proved fairly useless
in combating drug abuse, Deluxe magazine asked four designers from the
worlds of music and film to come up with advertising campaigns that
would persuade drug users to turn their backs on recreational
pharmaceuticals.
Creatives from Microdot Design & Film, who art directed all Oasis’s and
the Verve’s record sleeves, Ian Swift (aka Swifty), the man behind
record label logos for Mo’Wax and Talkin’ Loud, Blue Source, the design
agency responsible for ads for Labatts Ice and Stella Artois, and
Stylorouge who created the poster for Trainspotting, all rose to the
challenge.
Microdot came up with a new slant on the classic 60s Volkswagen
advertising, hammering home the message that people who take drugs find
themselves parting with plenty of their hard-earned cash without much to
show for it.
Swifty introduces the ’Coke Fiend’, once a high-flying hipster, who
warns that ’Whatever it’s called it still fucks you up. White Lines
(Don’t do it)’
Blue Source was inspired by research that showed that many people call
the HEA to find out if the drugs they’ve used the night before are
likely to show up on the office medical the following morning. They
based their idea around the fact that whatever drug you’ve taken, most
people end their night at a mate’s house talking rubbish until the early
hours of the morning.
And finally, Stylorouge created a fictional non-governmental drug
information line called Clear, advising users to ’Take no shit’.
Wagadon is in talks at the moment about turning the ads into billposters
for a campaign across London. Diary readers can now judge for
themselves.
Would these ads stop you taking drugs?
