The drug breaks you, it isolates you. Drugs divide you and disorder you. The drug shrinks you, suffocates you, empties you. It forgets you, it corners you, it drives you crazy. The drug kills you.
These are the messages launched by the Madrid City Council’s new drug consumption awareness and prevention campaign. With it, it shows the effects of drugs, those that many times consumers do not perceive, but those around them do.
It has been developed together with the Darwin & Verne agency, after winning in June the public tender held last January for the contracting of comprehensive advertising creation services declared to be of centralized management for the institutional communication campaigns of the Madrid City Council and its autonomous bodies.
The campaign highlights the negative and surprising effects that drug consumption can generate, directly addressing the consumer. It focuses on direct phrases and a diversity of approaches with the aim of reflecting the impact of drugs on the different dimensions of the human experience, such as the workplace, personal relationships, identity, loneliness and mental health.
The graphics present a minimalist and conceptual design, dominated by copy and a striking red color. As explained by the agency, they have sought to reflect the impact of drugs in the pieces by creatively using text and space, as well as graphic resources. The objective is for citizens to find a space to reflect on the effect that drugs can have on them.
The campaign has executions on social networks and outdoor advertising.
It also includes radio activations, with spots that translate the campaign messages into audio:
drug wedges
The creatives include the phrase “Madrid loves you as you are, without drugs”, with which the City Council seeks to reinforce its commitment to the health of citizens by encouraging people to enjoy the city of Madrid without drugs and reinforcing self-acceptance. In this sense, the council invites people to choose healthy leisure alternatives and to learn about drug consumption through the resources it offers in terms of prevention, awareness and assistance for people and families affected by addictions.
The campaign is launched, as Darwin & Verne points out, at a time of normalization of drugs, especially among young people; to a low perception of risk in substances such as cannabis and cocaine and an early start to the consumption of addictive substances.
“The drug kills you. But, until the drug kills you, there are other invisible effects that have to be shown. Effects visible to many, but invisible to those who consume them. So we count them like the drug does: attacking the user directly.“, commented Pablo Mendoza, Creative Director of the campaign, in a statement.
