What Is Talk To Frank?
Converse with Frank is the extensive running anti-drug movement the UK has had. But, have people quit drug abuse through this?
Drug education in the UK was changed forever ten years ago when a Swat team raided a quiet suburban kitchen. People were seriously warned to stay away from the drug peddlers around sports arenas and that they could be destroyed by drugs. In came strange humour and a light, yet energetic approach.
In the main advertisement, an adolescent kid brings in a police grab squad to capture his mom when she recommends they have a tranquil chat about medications. The message was new as well "Drugs are illicit. Discussing them isn't. So Talk to Frank."
Frank Friendly Confidential Drug Advice
One can actually say that Frank which was a brain child of "Mother" ad firm became the new National Drugs Helpline The idea was to build a reliable "older brother" image that could provide advice to teenagers about banned substances. Frank is has become a household name among the young people due to the many adventure stories that came from the theme such as Pablo the drugs mule dog to a tour of the brain warehouse.
According to Justin Tindal, the creative director of Leo Burnett the ad agency, what is of more importance is the fact that no-one ever saw Frank physically, so it was difficult for mockers to pick on him or blame him for not treating the kids right. Many people have high regard for the YouTube spoof videos of Frank too. There's also no indication that Frank is working for the government, which is unusual for a government funded campaign.
Substance education has developed a lot since Nancy Reagan, and in the United Kingdom, Grange Hill cast encouraged teens to simply "Say No" to drugs, a campaign which several professionals now think had the opposite of the desire effect.
Frank has set the standard, and now most adverts in Europe are using the same format to equip the youth with unbiased facts to help in making their choices. You still see pictures of prison bars and upset parents, though, in countries where dealing drugs will get you in serious trouble with the law. For example, in Singapore, a recent campaign recently told young people, "You play, you pay."
In the UK, the Above the Influence campaign has cost the federal government millions of dollars and uses humour and cautionary stories to encourage people to choose positive alternatives to drugs The stress is on chatting to youngsters by using their language - one advertisement depicts a group of "stoners" forsaken on a couch. But the drug fuelled descent into hell and scare tactics are still used by a surprisingly large number of campaigns around the world. One typical example was a part of the Canadian DrugsNot4Me program showed an attractive, confident young woman then into a wasting, hollow eyes shadow at the hand of drugs.
Inquire about into a UK anti-drugs movements in the vicinity of 1999 and 2004 proposes promotions demonstrating the antagonistic impacts of medication mishandle can regularly empower youngsters "on the edges of society" to explore different avenues regarding drugs.
By demonstrating how the drugs affect the use, giving the highs and lows, Frank was not supported by the Conservative politicians on the new path it had taken.
An early ad posted online told viewers, "Cocaine makes you feel on top of the world."
It wasn't at all times simple to balance the message correctly. The person behind this cocaine ad has said that he now thinks he thought the average person browsing the web had a longer attention span. It is difficult for some to view the ad till the last point where the dangers of drug use were listed. The idea behind the ad according to Powell is to make the Frank brand a more honest one by being sincere to teenagers about drugs.
A 67% of the youth say they would ask Frank for advice related to drugs according to the Home Office. A total of 225,892 calls were made to the Frank helpline and a total of 3,341,777 visits to the site in 2011/12. It is evidence that the method is effective.
Though, like with any other anti-drug media campaign around the globe, there's no proof that Frank has stopped people to use substances.
Substance use in the United Kingdom has decreased by 9% in the ten years since the campaign was introduced, though the pros say a lot of this is because of a decline in the use of cannabis use, probably connected to younger people's changing attitudes towards smoking tobacco.
What Is Frank?
FRANK was launched in 2003 as a collaborated effort of the Department of Health and Home Office of the British government as a national drug education service. It was designed to lower the rate of both legal and illegal drug use by providing education to teenagers and young people about what the effects of using drug and alcohol could be. It has run numerous media promotions on radio and the web.
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Services
FRANK has the following resources for anyone looking for information about drugs
- A website
- 24/7 anonymous telephone number
- A confidential live chat service, available from 2pm-6pm daily
- A facility to find counselling besides management