final project #MyWordsChangeLives Grant Proposal

A brief overview of the issue

The effects of intensive drinking continue to be felt significantly in the society. These include fatalities, diseases, and social effects like domestic violence, among other issues. A national survey carried out in the USA by the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 86.3% of the people past the age of 18 years reported that they had at some point drank alcohol (NIAAA, 2020). 70% of these people reported that they had drunk in the previous year while 55.3% reported that they had drunk alcohol in the last month.

According to the survey, 14,400,000 adults aged eighteen and above had developed the alcohol use disorder. Among these, 9,200,000 were men while 5,200,000 were women. Besides, the report indicated that 401,000 adolescents had this condition. The report also indicated that the average number of people who die alcohol-related causes per year was 88,000 people. The number of deaths caused by drunk drivers in 2014 was 9,967 (NIAAA, 2020). Besides, the impact was further assessed in terms of the economic burden of alcoholism. The cost of alcohol misuse in the USA in 2010 was estimated to be $ 249 billion. A significant proportion of this cost was due to binge drinking.

Globally, 3.3 million deaths in 2012 were believed to have been as a result of alcoholism. WHO in 2014 reported that more than 200 diseases and health-related injuries were caused by alcoholism (NIAAA, 2020). Alcohol therefore according to this report ranked fifth among the risk factors that cause premature disabilities and death.

Therefore, the issue of alcoholism and related conditions is an important factor that deserves to be addressed with utmost seriousness. This is because it not only leads to fatalities but also to disabilities, economic losses, and social ills.

Several efforts have been made to address this problem. The measures are based on the implementing government but there are no clearly stipulated measures that cut across states. However, there are various measures that have been common in many countries. One of the measures has been to make cheap alcohol unavailable (Sassi, 2015). This leads to a reduction in the number of people demanding to take alcohol and also reduces the rate of drinking.

The second common measure which has been taken is to ban adverts which appeal to young people to start taking alcohol. This is because it has been established that there exists a strong link between alcohol adverts and the number of people below the age of 18 years taking alcohol (Sassi, 2015). Therefore, this led to a stoppage of adverts placed in contexts that appeal to young people in some countries. The other measure commonly taken has been to an enhanced shared responsibility between the alcohol industry and the public health sector (Sassi, 2015). This is because the industry has certain ways to reach out and appeal to customers than the government. They also have the technical knowledge to produce less harmful products. Other measures put in place have sought to support those affected by alcohol disorders through rehabilitation and support to their families.

Despite the fact that these measures have heard some impact in the reduction of alcohol consumption and dependency, there is not much that has been done to mobilize the public on the implications of alcohol dependency and why it is a social vice. There has not been mass mobilization on social media and other platforms. In fact, the marketing adverts for alcohol supersede those which seek to reduce their dependency. Therefore, there is a need to undertake this mobilization program which has the potential of reducing alcohol dependency, therefore reducing the negative impacts being witnessed in the society.

The Headline

The campaign headline shall be "Alcohol the social menace." The hashtag to be used is #alcohol the social disease. I selected those words because the negative impacts of alcohol health-wise, economically, and socially qualify it to be referred to as a social menace.

The message

The main message in this headline is that alcohol brings more social harm than benefits. Alcoholism affects all genders and has negative impacts on the health, economic, and social status of an individual. The headline therefore not only mobilizes and creates awareness among people but also calls for action.

The audience

My audience will be mainly comprised of young people especially the males whose rate of dependency on alcohol according to statistics, has proven to be higher than men. The headline approach will be effective in this age group because it is short and to the point. People in this age group do not prefer reading long messages. The message will lead to the eradication of the problem from the grassroots since the youth form the future generation.

The approach

The campaign approach shall be the use of major social media platforms. These are mainly Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. This is because the platforms have a huge number of people who fall in the age of my target audience. The approach is therefore, effective and will not strain the campaign budget. The media to be used in the campaign shall be a picture that is more likely to be viewed by the audience as compared to a video. Therefore, pictures and fliers shall be the major tools in the campaign.

The theme of civic engagement

The campaign shall take an associative approach. It shall be seeking to establish the impacts of high alcohol dependency, its causes, and risk exposures. This approach shall, therefore, be effective as it justifies the causes, risks and also provides possible solutions.

Materials and costs

The full amount would be used in the organization of a social event where participants will be mobilized using fliers concerning the issue of alcoholism. Besides, the campaign would also include sponsoring of our hashtag to be among the top trends on twitter as well as the other identified platforms. The cost will also include paying a designer to help develop quality flier. Facebook sponsoring on Shopify starts with a free trial and then a cost $79 per month (Facebook Store 2020). To cut on cost on Twitter, we shall use the promoted tweet approach, which will cost $2 per day (WebFX, 2020). The cost of designing a flier will depend on the designer. However, the average cost may not exceed $1 per flier.

Method of evaluation

Establishing the effect of the campaign will be based on the number of views for our Facebook page as well as the number of retweets for our sponsored tweet. In the long-run, the evaluation method will be based on the rate of reduction in alcohol dependency. This however, will require identification of the impact our campaign has on the reduction.

Concluding plea

In a nutshell, alcohol has a significant negative implication on our society today. As observed from the statistics, the number of deaths caused by alcohol-related issues in 2012 was 3.3 million people. This number must have risen in recent years. Besides, the World Health Organization reported that alcohol is the cause of 200 diseases and injuries globally. The use of social media as a key mobilization tool, especially targeting the youth, will be effective since this age group is mostly available on social media. Focusing on the youth shall ensure that going forward, the coming generation shall not be suffering from this condition. I am the right person to implement this project because I have experienced its impact first hand after the demise of my grandfather. I, therefore, have a personal feeling attached to this project.

References

National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), (2020). Alcohol Facts and Statistics.

Sassi, F., Cecchini, M., Devaux, M., & Astolfi, R. (2015). Health and economic impacts of key alcohol policy options. Tackling harmful alcohol use, 141.