Keepcontrol.ca Project
The keepcontrol.ca initiative ran from June 2005 to November 2008. The project began when a group of youth, researchers, health promoters, educators and social marketers met to develop messages to reduce dangerous drinking among young people. Through the work and messages created during this meeting, OPHA received funding from Health Canada to develop a social marketing campaign to address these issues.
Canada’s Drug Strategy’s main goal is to reduce problematic drug use. Research with youth indicates that alcohol is the drug that causes the most problems – and there are effective and comprehensive strategies to address these problems. The goal of this project was to reduce problematic alcohol use among Ontario’s English and French-speaking youth, ages 15 – 18.
In November of 2006, OPHA launched keepcontrol.ca and gardecontrole.ca as a bilingual, province-wide project which included educational and awareness building activities as well as an independent project evaluation. The objectives: to increase awareness about the relationship between alcohol use, dangerous drinking, and health and safety among 15 to 18 year olds, and to increase knowledge of effective strategies to reduce risk and increase safety among youth, parents, and health professionals.
Keepcontrol.ca in Action…
- Developed a social marketing campaign that addressed the risks associated with excessive (binge) drinking among young people.
- Implemented activities designed to increase knowledge among young people regarding risky drinking.
- Offered strategies to help young people minimize risk when they are in situations where alcohol is being consumed.
- The success of the original campaign allowed the project to expand to the aboriginal community with www.keepcontrol.ca/change aimed at First Nations teens.
Impact
- Over 80 youth participated in the development of the keepcontrol.ca messages and multi-media campaign.
- The campaign reach was extensive: materials were sent to 2,700 individuals, schools and communities and over 210 television commercials were aired on MuchMusic in both French and English.
- The keepcontrol.ca website attracted a great deal of interest and generated over 212,000 hits over 13 months.
Websites related to the keepcontrol.ca initiative are not regularly maintained. Please use information at your own discretion. All three websites will remain active until March, 2011.
Links
- Keepcontrol.ca website:
www.keepcontrol.ca
Le Site Français:
www.gardecontrole.ca
First Nations:
www.keepcontrol.ca/change - Contact Info:
Ben Rempel, Past Manager