Media Campaign for Overcoming Drug Abuse - Assignment Example

Media Campaign for Overcoming Drug Abuse Background Nowadays, Drugs are available everywhere, it can be mistaken abusing drugs is a widely accepted behaviour in the society today. No society is free from the menace of drug abuse, at the beginning drugs were used for medicinal purposes, but these days drugs are being abused freely by people in the society. The drug abuse refers to the misuse of drugs either medicinal or not, drug abuse is a concern to the whole society. People in the society is highly tempted with the excitement that drug offers, or some people just escape to drugs to avoid facing their present problems; drugs abuse is, therefore, increasing at an alarming rate. The prevalence of drug abuse has reached extreme levels in the society; most of the society youth and young teens are abusing the various forms of drugs. The major target of this paper will how the society can intervene and solve drug addiction problems that the society has, and the various communication measures that society can employ. The target population is the whole society because drug addiction problem is a societal problem affecting people from all levels of society. Drug prevalence is very high among the youth; this means that Drugs are destroying the future generation at a very alarming rate; hence, it’s about time that measures to correct this are employed. The multiplication of the intervention method will increase the chance of countering the problem. The measures that the government have undertaken and other aversion steps being taken by the other organisations should be multiplied to match the ever growing prevalence of drug menace in the society. The drug abuse menace is not a society problem anymore; this problem is a national and international problem, the problems of drugs abuse cuts across national boundaries. Introduction Once a person becomes addicted to drugs, they become a slave to drugs. Drug addiction is a menace that is affecting the society, more and more people are abusing drugs on a daily basis. Addiction to drugs has a very devastating effect, the deaths caused by drug addiction is increasing every day. Among the drug addicts one of the most difficult challenges of overcoming this menace, because it leads to drug dependency. Drug addiction starts when people experiment on drugs, just because their friends are taking them; this leads to extreme drugs abuse that has devastating self destruction effects, the antisocial, kleptomaniacs’ behaviours and criminal activities increase. Drug addiction cripples a person’s mental and physical ability, they person eventually loses the consciousness, memory, self-control and the will to do their activities. The drug addicts eventually lose their jobs, because they cannot work due to the side effects of drugs. This leads them do engage in illegal activities in order to feed their addiction. People start by stealing small things in the house until they develop into seasonal thieves, who steal huge items and also engage in burglary activities. The drug addiction is a bad habitual social behaviour that takes over one's life, they interfere with a person’s social relation, personal achievement, and they threaten a person’s autonomy. In exploring the various ways of tacking these issues, this paper will look at how the various intervention measures that have been established can be marketed. This paper is not just look at the various ways of tackling or methods of overcoming drug abuse; this paper will look at ways in which this menacing marketed and tackled in the society. The aim of marketing the communications strategy is to enable the society become aware of the various intervention measures being employed. Summary This report will initially explore intervention method of tackling drug addiction. Drugs addiction being a persistent a problem that affects the whole society, the importance of tackling this menace cannot be emphasized further. The problem of drug addiction is one of the society social ills and problems that need to be addressed and tackled. In highlighting, the drug addiction menace in the society today this paper will extensively look at how drug addicts overcome the menace. Overcoming drug addiction is a lengthy hard and complicated process, this is complicated further by nature for which people who are addicted to drugs having a hunger and thirst for it. This report will comprehensively look at the various intervention measures that society can employ in tacking drug addiction. A point to be noted is that this paper will not evaluate the various preventive measure of preventing drug abuse; it will look at post addiction measures that can be used to arrest drug addiction. This paper will specifically look at the reversal measures and mechanisms of taking a drug addicted person to becoming a drug free individual. The main focus of this paper will be to explore the various intervention measures that people can go through in order to overcome drug addiction. The post drug addiction measures that can reverse the abuse of drugs in a person are what this paper will highlight. This paper will also look at the way in which the society can communicate the various measures of overcoming drug. This report will also look at a market communications strategy that is meant to communicate the various intervention methods that have been identified; these communication strategies will be tailored to suit various marketing tools available to the intended target market. Since, this paper targets the whole society irrespective of the position they hold in the society, all marketing tools will be explored. The use of all available marketing tools will ensure that the target population gets the intended message. These marketing tools will be balanced in such a way that it ensures that bets results from the marketing initiative is achieved, the intended goals and objectives of the campaigns will be highly hinged on the success of the marketing initiatives and campaigns. Careful prepositions will go into selecting, balancing, analysing and reviewing the marketing initiatives. A method of assessing the success of this communication methods and strategies will be adopted; this will be to make sure that the maximum results are being achieved. This assessment method will be to examine the campaign success, and also identify various mechanisms that can be used to tailor the campaign to suit the market dynamics of various societies. The assessment of the method will also to ensure that it is flexible enough to be able to be readjusted meets the changing environment and that various tools can be incorporate to ensure that various tools can be incorporated to enhance its effectiveness. The nature of the campaign is to ensure that the society becomes aware of the various methods available in combating and reversing drug addiction. All these intervention methods, marketing communication strategies and the assessment of the campaign success will eventually build up to the conclusion of this report. The conclusion of this report will encompass the whole measures that have been adopted by this report. The thesis statement will strongly highlight the need overcoming the drug addiction menace, and the method used to ensure that the society is made aware of the measures of articulating the drug menace. Project Selection and rationale The prevalence of drug abuse and addiction is increasing in the society daily. The prevalence of drug abuse threatens the live of the young people in the society; it affects the way they live and interact with people, cause an increase in the rate of crimes in the society, and hinder the development objectives of the society because the generation will be destroyed. This project was selected because there is a heightened need of addressing these issues, and ensures that a whole generation of young teens and youth is saved from the bad effects of drugs and substance abuse. The rationale of the campaign is to sensitize the society against the abuse of drugs and to help the drug addicts recover form the prevalence and use of drugs. The treatment of drug addicts is a measure that will bring a healthier society and reverse the effects that have ravaged the whole society due to the abuse of drugs and other substances. The persuasion that communication media and other marketing initiative have in advocating for the objectives of this study is immense; the power that the marketing tools and initiatives have over the whole society will help in advancing the objectives of this paper. In the society, the youth have access to various communication tools and gadgets that the marketing communication strategy that will be adopted by this paper will reach them. The drug consuming people of the society have cues that push them towards the abuse of drugs and other substances, the communication tools and initiatives will target in changing the behaviours of the youth, and bring about new forms of behaviours that will change the motivations that enhance the use and abuse of drugs. Changing of behaviours is very important in changing the cues and motivations that lead the youth and young teens in abusing drugs, behaviour change will enable the drug taking people to consider their behaviours, and, therefore, one of the objectives of this paper will be to change the cues, and bring about positive behaviours in the society that will enable the environment among the youth to change. A change in the environment will change the motivations towards drug and other substance abuse; the modification of these behaviours will enable the environment to become enabling to drug abusers to change their behaviours. Changing behaviours among the drug addicts is not easy; because there exists an internal drive and hunger for the drugs, therefore, use of other medicine like naltrexone and opiates will go a long way in ensuring this project achieve its objectives. These drugs replace the urge that exists in drug users for the abuse of drugs. This will prepare the drug users for much better treatment methods to follow. This project was selected because the prevalence of drug in the society is high, and the need to counter this problem is required right now more than ever, the rationale of this campaign is to create a better society that is free from the negative effects of drugs and other substance abuse. Campaign audience profile The degree and the extent to which this media communication campaign will be a success will depend on the target audience of this campaign. This market communication strategy campaign must be designed the target groups of young adults, teens and youths (Karol L. Kumpfer, 1998). These target groups are the highest consumers of drugs in any society, in the world, this media campaign will be designed to fit the target population on the basis of age, gender, personality, family, the cultural background and the risk factors involved (William D. Crano, 2002). The risk factors involved will vary from one society to the next because the risk factor varies from one place to another. These risk factors depend on the level of drug abuse among the target population in the area and the overall prevalence of drugs in the area. The marketing initiatives will incorporate marketing segmentation and design the marketing initiative in those areas to suit the drug use demographic profile and other factors that cover that area. This paper will use niche marketing concepts to focus on each and every market individually in order to achieve the best results. The segmentation will help in mapping the area based on the demographics, and then niche marketing will enable those areas that have been selected are served well with the campaign team and marketing tools. Regarding on the role in which parents and other close family and friends play in stopping and countering the drug addiction menace the campaigners may choose to involve them (Abuse, 1984). To change the drug abuse and other substance abuse in the society, all the people that can effect change in the behaviours of the drug users and abusers, in order to overcome the Drug menace will have to be involved; they will become the secondary target audience target of this report. Audience perception Majority of the youth, young adults and teens, have attitudes and perceptions that are favourable toward the abuse of drugs and other illegal substances. The target audience perception on drug and substance abuse is substance specific, the youth attitude and perception towards drugs and other substance abuse varies from one drug to the next (Zili Sloboda, 2003). In some societies the youth do not consider marijuana to be a drug, they categorise in the same category as cigarettes. The continued use and abuse of drugs in the societies have led to drop in the perception of drugs; most people do not view drugs to be very bad, the have a favourable attitude towards them. Some of them think that the abuse of drugs is bad, but the small taking of drugs is not bad. To them drug addiction is what separate bad drug users from the good ones. The bad drug users are addicted to drugs; the good drug users are occasional drug takers (DeSena, 2003). Most youth people who are addicted to clubbing have taken one drug or the other. Most youth who like going out on the weekends are exposed to drugs and other forms of substance abuse; this continued exposure is what has lowered the general perception of the target population of this report to have a relaxing attitude towards drugs and other substances abuse. The lifestyle of the target population is outgoing; these people like going out and engaging in outdoor activities. These activities expose them to the life and fun that they want to; they are enjoying their youth” that the attitude and conception that they have. The fun loving youth, young adults and teens become exposed to abuse of drugs lifestyle (Colvin, 2013). These people like associating themselves with the latest music in the industry, and most of this music’s are usually promoting drug abuse, sex and other bad activities. This lifestyle lowers the perception that the youth has towards the risk of taking drugs; this lowered attitude and perception towards risk increase the intake of drugs. Drug taking people are no longer being judged harshly by the society as they used to, the society is more receptive to drug users. The increase the taking of drugs because people feel as the society has accepted the abuse of drugs, they feel that taking and abusing drugs is considered to be the normal behaviour so long as they do not get addicted to Drugs and other substance abuse. The lifestyle, attitude and perception that the young people of the society have towards the risks of Drugs abuse affects the intake and the success of this campaign. Having the attitudes that are favourable to the abuse of drugs and other substances if detrimental to the success of this campaign, the various marketing concepts and initiative will be highly focused in on niche marketing to change this attitude (Office, 2006). The changing of the attitude of the youth is very paramount to the success of this campaign. The youth directed initiatives and programs will change the favourable attitude and perception of drug abuse and the effect is that the youth and people who perceive the intake of drug use to be unfavourable will increase (C & Marlatt, 2008). Campaign Objectives Illicit substance and drug abuse are a menace that is ravaging the sorceries the objective of this paper will overall encompass the reducing of the prevalence of this scourge in the society the other objectives of this campaign includes the following; 1. Educate the target population about the risks of the prevalence of drug abuse. In the effort of making the youth reject the use of drugs, and other illegal substance abuse (Linton, 2007). 2. Educate the secondary target population of this report that is; parents, teachers and care givers about the risks and other negative effects of Drug abuse so that they can help the youth in rejecting the use of drugs and other illegal substances. 3. Promote the zero tolerance of drug sue among all levels of society. This paper will promote the enactment policies that clearly promote the zero tolerance behaviours from the small unit in the society to the government level. 4. Assist the development and growth of society initiatives and coalitions that promote the change of behaviour, perceptions and attitude towards drugs. 5. Use the various campaign initiative and marketing concepts and tools to promote unfavourable attitude and perception toward drug abuse by galvanising the people in all levels of the society to make a strong stand against drugs and its abuse. 6. Help in initiating and start a national youth against drug abuse campaign, which have structures and programs to the lowest level in the society. All levels of the national initiative will be active in their initiative to ensure that there is the reduction in the prevalence of drug use and abuse in all aspects and areas of society (Philip Palmgreen, 1995). 7. Promote the youth wellbeing and welfare initiatives that are meant to make sure that drug addicts are rehabilitates and program that stop relapse are enhanced and rejuvenated. 8. Coming up with various strategies that ensure that there are effective communication measures and tools that ensure that the youth get the intended communications. 9. Promote the use of various marketing tools and platforms that make sure that information reaches all levels of society. The platforms that can be used include the social media, print media, television and other forms of advertising and promotion activities (Kitchen, 1999). 10. Come up with monitoring measures and initiatives that ensure that the marketing communication strategies and tools that are used are continually achieving the intended goals and meet the intended targets that are set by the campaign program. Campaign ideas This marketing campaign initiative will employ the traditional marketing techniques that have been practiced in the industry for a long time and new creative ideas. In describing the traditional process, this social campaign will use this process in trying to change the behaviours of people who take drugs, and the approach that this campaign will use incorporates (Philip Kotler, 1989). After defining the campaign problem, determining the goals and defining the target and understanding the audience, they will involve brainstorming the strategies that can be used in this campaign, here this campaign like it has already stated before it will segment the market into small groups and the use niche marketing where it will focus on the smaller sections of the target audience in order to achieve the maximum results. Then, this campaign will decide how time and resources will be allocated in the various levels of the target audience in order to achieve the intended results; here, the campaign will allocate resources in such an away that it will be able to concentrate on a smaller group as much as possible (Hong Cheng, 2010). The next step, will involve selection of the channels of communication; her, the campaign will use all the channels of communication in order to reach the targets target audience as possible, and finally, this campaign will pre-test its ideas and massages it intends to use in the campaign. The modern steps, which will be incorporated, will involve turning the target population into the brand advocates of this campaign; here, the campaign will use various initiatives to turn the youths into campaigners for this initiative. Through the various networks that would be formed to the lowest level of the society, this campaign will use the target population to post photos and raise awareness against drug abuse, this will majorly focus on using social media, and other outdoor activities of media marketing. The fans that will become advocates for this initiative will receive presents that range from tours to attending music concerts that will specifically be used for this campaign. This campaign will look for a musician to become an ambassador for this campaign, he or she will perform in various locations to try and bring change (Salmon, 1989). This campaign will also bring the “like” factor in this initiative. Here, the fans who have decided to become the brand managers for the campaigns, will attend special events and concerts, thy then will be asked to take photos of them having fun in concert and also being around the who and who of the society, those photos will be posted on their social media sites. The posting of these photos will allow those people at home to be part of the experience. To make the experience more social, this campaign will introduce the like or retweet competition where the photo that will get the most like on face book, or most retweet on twitter will get a reward (Kitchen, 1999). The hope of this campaign is to create a long lasting social connection with the youth so that it can always be part of their live, not something that will come and go. It will create an experience for them that are unimaginable, and this experience will go a long way in living within them (Kitchen, 1999). The photos will create a long lasting experience; the ultimate reward will go to the social group or community that will bring most drug abusers into the campaign and enable them to change their behaviours, the clustering of the campaign into niche markets, will enable people who are tasked with handling the various marketing to focus ion those markets, their major aim will be to bring about the change of behaviour and bring into the program many drug addicts as possible. The best team and the vest community will receive awards. The slogan for this campaign is; Creative Executions The creative executions of this campaign will be to use not the usual form of executing ideas, but creative ways of executing those ideas (Brian R. Edlin, 2005). For example, in the TV media campaign, this campaign will use creative forms of marketing that are more likely to create fun and buzz around it. The use of humour and creative adverts will bring awareness and raise interest around the campaigns. The creative forms of executions will be incorporated in all forms of implementation of the strategies, and media campaigns. The layout for the creative executions of this media campaign involves; Marketing communication tools The internet The internet as a form of marketing for this campaign initiative will be central to the success of this campaign. Most of the youth in this society are interconnected through the various social media platforms and can access to the internet. Like, it has been highlighted in the previous section before, internet marketing will be central to this campaign: this campaign will create it own website, where people can follow the activities and learn about how they can be part of this initiative (Hong Cheng, 2010). The social media will also play a carnal role; the fans who join and sign up to be brand managers will also play a part in ensuring there are lots of activity in the social media platforms. The campaign will have a page in Facebook and twitter and the other social media platforms. The activity around the platforms will enable more and more people to be a part of the campaign (Kitchen, 1999). Advertising Advertising will be used as a campaign initiative for this campaign; social campaigns will be run in all the available marketing platforms to create awareness about the campaign; it will be done in such a way that is avoids saturating the market with a lot of information. The morning radio talk shows will be used to bring awareness around the various activities that the campaign is incorporating, and listeners will be winning tickets to attend these campaigns (William D. Crano, 2002). Adverts will be aired in the evening where people are more tuned in their televisions in order to capture a wider audience; the print media will also be used will creative pieces being posted on them. Sales promotion Sales promotion will be used, in the events that will be organised, T-shirts, Caps, and other campaign materials will be sold in those events so that the people who wear them can create awareness about the program when they wear them. These campaign materials will be unique from the other materials; they will be created in an amazing so that to encourage people to ware them whenever they are at home (Salmon, 1989). The campaign materials will also be available in the various stores; this will enable consumers to have access to the product, bring this product closer to the people is essential in the success of this campaign. Direct marketing This form of adverting will incorporate using SMS to get to the consumers directly. Mails and letters have been overtaken by faster way of communication and getting the message faster and more directly to consumers (Kitchen, 1999). SMS will get the message faster and directly to consumers, and the fans and other brand mangers will be asked to get the message out there about this campaign to the consumers. This will brings social sharing of information among the target population; the message will get from one person to the other, therefore, getting a wide network. Public relations Public relation will help in bring awareness and news around the campaign. This form of the campaign will happen around all the available platforms, from social media to print and TV, and radio media (Kitchen, 1999). The buzz that public relations will bring about the activity will ensure that support for the initiative around Drug abuse is galvanised to maximum levels. The public relations for this campaign will evolve to meet the needs of the target population, it will create change and also follow them to where they usually hang out, and that is most to the social media, entertainment clubs, malls and other hangout places. Support media The support media will ensure that the information about this initiative gets out there. This initiative needs to the information out there as much as possible; more and more people need to be involved than ever before, and the support media will ensure that it is done. This will be done through promotion activities, donations and other voluntary services that are available for this initiative (Salmon, 1989). Measuring the campaign success The success of the campaign will be measured through the change that will be realised. After the campaign period has lapsed, a research will be conducted around the areas that the campaign focussed on to get the actual change that has been realised. The success will be measured on the amount of people that changed their views about the use of drug, people that stopped using drugs, and the drop of prevalence of drug use in the society (William D. Crano, 2002). Conclusion The abuse of drugs is always increasing in the societies nowadays; this is necessitated by a lot of factors among them being the favourable attitude that people have towards drug taking (Hong Cheng, 2010). The presence of drugs has increased in the society, exposing more people to it; overcoming from dug addiction is one of the most challenging things to do, it takes a lot of courage and will. The need to overcome drug addiction is more needed right now than ever before. This report highlights that need to overcome drug addiction its intentions are to change the perception that people have against drug abuse, and brings change by encouraging drug addicts to overcome their behaviours. By getting involved around this campaign; people will begin to have unfavourable attitude toward the use of drugs (Zili Sloboda, 2003). Reference Abuse, U. S. (1984). Role of the Media in Drug Abuse Prevention and Education: Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse of the Committee on Labor and Human Resources, United States Senate, Ninety-eighth Congress, Second Session, on Examining the Role which. Wasington DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. Brian R. Edlin, T. F. (2005). Overcoming Barriers to Prevention, Care, and Treatment of Hepatitis C in Illicit Drug Users. Clinical Infectious Diseases , 276-285. C, P. D., & Marlatt, D. G. (2008). 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