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EVALUATION OF THE DRUGS DRIVING TV ADVERT
CHAPTER SIX Lessons for the future
6.1 This final chapter of the report uses the findings presented so far to make recommendations about future campaigns aimed at preventing drug driving.
Key findings from the evaluation
6.2 The evaluation found that levels of awareness of the advert were very high, especially among the target age group of 17-24 year-olds. Further, the qualitative research suggested that understanding of the advert and its key messages by its target age group was good. The advert told people something new - that you can be prosecuted for drug driving, and that the police are actively targeting drug driving.
6.3 However, the research also highlighted several factors that have the potential to undermine the impact of the advert on younger drivers. In particular, the qualitative research suggested that the message of the advert lacked credibility with young drivers. They did not believe that the police were actively enforcing drug driving laws, or that the tests the advert shows would work to catch many drug drivers. Further, they were unclear about the precise legal consequences of failing the tests shown in the advert. In addition to this, younger drivers did not identify with the characters in the advert, either in terms of their age or in terms of the drugs they were supposed to have taken. Participants in the qualitative study frequently commented that the characters appeared more drunk than on drugs, and that they were too old.
Improving the current TV advert
6.4 Although the key purpose of this chapter is to make recommendations about future prevention campaigns, we feel that a few minor alterations to the current advert would increase its impact.
The statistics and information that appear about the drug tests and their introduction to Scotland could be read out rather than just appearing on screen. This might increase people's awareness of the fact that the advert is about drug-driving rather than drink-driving and strengthen awareness of the fact that the tests are being introduced in Scotland.
The inclusion of statistics about the use and success of the tests in Scotland rather than America might help strengthen the credibility of the enforcement message. If this is not possible at the moment, consideration might be given to including this kind of information in future campaigns.
Implications for future campaigns
6.5 Overall, the advert has clearly succeeded in reaching its target audience and in communicating its main message. For those successes to be reinforced in future work, we would highlight the following implications:
Future advertising work in this area might include more young people, and be clearer in distinguishing drug driving from drink driving. This would make it easier for the target audience of young drug takers to relate to the future campaigns.
Identification might also be improved by the inclusion of specific examples of drugs or drug-taking situations to give context to the advert. Participants in the qualitative research found it very difficult to identify a context in which the characters in the advert might have been taking drugs, or to identify what kind of drugs they might have taken.
There may be an argument for developing different materials in relation to different kinds of drugs and/or different kinds of drug users. While the main aim of the current advert was simply to highlight the fact that the police are now testing for drug driving in general, the qualitative research found that different drugs are seen as having very different effects on driving and that young people make very subtle distinctions between the acceptability and effects of different substances. Young people who take one sort of drug in one context may not relate to adverts depicting young people taking other drugs in other situations.
Future adverts could highlight the actual legal consequences of drug driving. Knowledge of the legal consequences remains poor, and this lack of clarity tended to undermine the impact for some participants in the qualitative research.
Advertising needs to be supported by actual police enforcement activity. Participants in the qualitative research often compared their knowledge/experience of people being stopped and convicted for drink driving with their perception that detection and conviction of drug drivers was relatively rare. While advertising may have some impact on people's awareness of enforcement, unless the message is confirmed by high-profile successes or by personal knowledge/experience of police enforcement, its impact over time is likely to wane.
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