The Liquor Control Board of Ontario is acknowledging that drinking and driving can often be the “elephant in the room” through an interactive responsible drinking holiday campaign.
The campaign called “Deflate the Elephant” aims to help reduce drinking and driving by providing responsible hosting tools and resources for consumers, said Steve Erwin, spokesperson for the LCBO.
Research indicated that consumers often feel embarrassed or awkward when stopping someone from drinking and driving. These tools help counter that, he said.
DeflateTheElephant.ca, built by Dashboard Communications, allows visitors to adopt the role of party host in either a sports night or dinner party setting.
Several options are presented to the user that allows them to prevent guests from getting behind the wheel. They can talk to them, cause a distraction or block them. There is of course an elephant in the room.
The longer the user takes to defuse the situation, the larger the elephant grows. Making the right decision causes the elephant to shrink.
The effort targets males and females 25-54. LCBO anti-drinking and driving campaigns usually target the friend of the male driver. However, research indicates women are becoming increasingly likely to engage in drinking and driving, said Erwin.
Two 15-second TV spots, print, online and in-store materials like counter decals, door cling vinyls, posters and single-bottle paper bags. Due North Communications developed the creative and handled the media buy.
The TV spots are running during programs such as CSI, Criminal Minds, Survivor, The Mentalist, NFL and NHL games, Law & Order, Grey’s Anatomy and The National.
The online ads will appear on sites like TheStar.com, Canoe.ca, GlobalTV.com, Google and Yahoo.
The campaign launched last week during the opening of the LCBO’s new King Street West store in downtown Toronto.
