Cocaine at centre of government's Frank anti-drugs drive

by Daniel Farey-Jones, Brand Republic 20-May-08, 09:00

LONDON - The government is to focus on showing 15- to 18-year-olds the ugly consequences behind the glamour of cocaine, the price of which is at an all-time low, in the next phase of its Frank drugs awareness campaign.

The £1m cross-media campaign will be announced today by drugs minister Vernon Coaker as part of a new crackdown on cocaine, which the government claims is the only drug that has risen in use since 1998.

The price of cocaine in the UK has fallen to an all time low and can be bought for as little as £30 a gram, making it easily available to young people and students.

The campaign will use a range of media including online advertising, as well as leaflets aimed at young people and drugs workers.

Today's announcement will be made at a summit being attended by the Columbian vice-president Francisco Santos Calderon, in an attempt to highlight cocaine's impact on the people of his country.

The UK government has joined the Columbian government's "Shared responsibility" campaign, which focuses on the global consequences of cocaine use.

Tomorrow, Coaker, Calderon and former Blur bassist Alex James, will attend a Trafalgar Square exhibition illustrating the environmental and social destruction caused by the drug.

The Frank campaign began five year ago this Friday. The digital account is currently with Profero and the advertising account is with Mother.

Comments

Jonathan Godson - 20/05/2008

I realise I sound very old fashioned but I despair of the need to advertise something that is patently bad for your health, your wallet, society, the economy and so on PLUS it's illegal. Nevertheless if people are so irresponsible as to think they can factor it in to their lives with no consequences then on this basis the whole Frank campaign is welcome. I'd still like to see some stats on the campaign's effectiveness though (ROI?) if cocaine use has grown this much. On a lighter note with a name like Coaker, the Drugs Minister is clearly well named for the role...