‘Don’t leave young people in the dark’, urges Pill Testing Australia in campaign targeting parents
Young people attending music festivals without the benefit of pill testing is on par with them driving and walking across the street while hampered by a blindfold, according to Pill Testing Australia’s latest campaign push.
The latest public service announcement was directed and produced by Andrew McWilliam, a production assistant on the set of Australian film, Rising Wolf, and the son of Bruce McWilliam, Seven West Media’s commercial director.
The film sees a blindfolded young woman say goodbye to her mother, then drive and walk through traffic to a festival without her sight. The spot closes with the line ‘Don’t leave young people in the dark’ and a call to action to contact local MPs about the issue.
Pill Testing Australia’s Gino Vumbaca said that introducing pill testing services would reduce the number and volume of drugs consumed by young people.
“By providing pill testing at festivals we can start to remove the blindfolds and provide people with information that we know changes their behaviour,” Vumbaca said.
“By engaging with people who use drugs and by providing scientifically backed knowledge, our pill testing services can achieve a reduction in the number and volume of drugs consumed and consequently reduce harm. We continue to be overwhelmed with the support for Pill Testing Australia by members of the Australian public who recognise the urgent need for this proven harm reduction strategy.”
The latest spot follows the public service announcement created by Hooligan Collective’s Dylan Harrison in August.
Harrison’s spot showed a young man being encouraged by his friends to jump off a cliff into a body of water below. In reality, the stress he is feeling about the risky decision is related to taking a pill without knowing what it contains. When offered the opportunity to test it, he happily accepts.
Vumbaca thanked all of the people who had donated their time and talent to advocating for pill testing.
“The fact that people are donating their valuable time and talent to assist us with advocating for best practice harm reduction keeps us motivated and driven to succeed,” he said.
The media schedule for ‘Don’t leave young people in the dark’ is yet to be confirmed, however it will be running on Nine’s Pedestrian.
‘Don’t leave young people in the dark’ Credits
Director/Producer/Writer/Edit/VFX/Colour – Andrew McWilliam
Producer/Writer/AD – Zane Voloshin
Producer – Sarah McWilliam
DP/Music/Story – Willow Driver
Gaffer/AC/Story – James Bartlett
Pill Testing Australia Reps – Gino Vumbaca, Tim Harvey
Cool effort, but in what world do you PR who your dad is?
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Oh, I thought drugs were illegal, my bad.
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You should try them, they’re awesome.
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Just because something is illegal doesn’t mean that it is bad, and similarly somethings that are legal arguably shouldn’t be.
In WA it is illegal to be in possession of 50kg of potatoes at any one time.
In Queensland the law still requires taxi drivers to have a bale of hay in their boot at all times.
In Victoria it is illegal to wear pink hot pants on a Sunday after midday.
Conversely, in NSW the Sydney Harbour Bridge is still a designated stock route – as long as you use the eastern-most lane. And from memory it is only between 2am and 4am and costs one penny per head of stock. Also learn your Decimal Currency Act of 1966. I would recommend crossing with the stock in threes as 3d. = 2c. When we abolished the 1c. and 2c. coins that rounds down to zero cents = free! Otherwise it is a real bugger getting that through on your e-tag!
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That hot pants thing is an internet spoof and QLD legislation refers to ‘cabs’ as in a horse and cart in early history and not the modern-day taxi. Oddly enough the potato law is true.
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