The War Against Drugs

In America, the Office of National Drug Control policy has been struggling to reach out to the general population about the negative side effects of drug use and how to resist the pressure to use an illegal substance. They’ve created many programs warning about the dangers of narcotics, but none have been as successful as Above the Influence, their advertising campaign geared towards preventing drug use in young adults and teens. Created many years ago and relaunched in 2010, Above the Influence has been subjected to numerous studies and is shown to have had a tremendous effect on increasing anti-drug beliefs and decreasing marijuana usage in those who were exposed to their advertising. But what exactly makes their message so powerful? Upon analysis of one of their videos, it’s easy to see some of the key strategies they use to make their messages extremely effective.

I chose to use one of their videos titled “We Rise Together” as my primary example for analysing their effective anti-drug campaign strategies because I believe it best encompasses what the company wants as it’s representative. According to Donald Gunn, there are twelve master advertising formats. Some of them involve stories, others involve a simple demonstration, however each have proven to be useful in their own way. This particular video uses one main format and has a blend of symbolization in as well. The symbolization presented represents their company and message and is present in each of their videos. It’s shown as an arrow pointing upwards surrounded by a circle, to symbolize “rising” above the pressure. This is part of the reason why this video is titled “We Rise Together”.

Contrary to their secondary symbolization that’s always present, this p...

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...s their sense of loneliness. The group is stronger than the individual and this is being used to their advantage.

Overall this video has proven to be extremely effective. Not only did the format help support their idea, but their appeals really helped draw the audience in and assisted them in connecting and understanding the bigger idea and overall anti-drug message. The visual techniques used were just the icing on top of the cake- the constant flashing to new videos and messages really helped support the “you’re not alone” idea they were trying to promote, and made the network of healthy anti-drug teens stronger. It doesn’t matter whether you’ve ever touched a drug in your life or are a heroin junkie, videos like this one are going to make you want to abstain and live a better, drug-free lifestyle. Above the Influence has truly risen above their competition.