Vol. 18, No. 27	April 15, 1999

Series of anti-binge drinking posters illustrates positive and negative aspects of 'party school'

Innovative posters and advertisements are appearing on the University of Delaware campus this spring, alerting students to the adverse effects of binge drinking in very creative ways.

The posters are designed to help support efforts to change the drinking culture at UD and to give new meaning to the term "party school."

Using a play-on-words approach, the posters take common drinking terms, such as "mug night" and "hammered," to make students consider the second-hand effects of binge drinking and to underscore the fact that such negative behavior does not have to be endured as part of the college experience. Half of the posters are positive; half are negative.

"Trashed," for example, takes on a new meaning in a poster that shows a dorm room littered with bottles, cans and other debris, reading "Your room. Someone threw up in the wastebasket; cans and bottles are everywhere. And, who's that guy passed out on your bed?"

In contrast, the term "hammered" takes a positive turn in a poster of Miss Delaware, a UD student, posing hammer-in-hand working for Habitat for Humanity. The poster with the term "happy hour" shows students at what may be their happiest hour--Commencement.

Another grim poster gives new meaning to the phrase "got a buzz?" when the popular phrase refers to a roommate's alarm clock. The poster reads, in part, "Time for class, but she was out partying all night. Should you wake her...again?"

"Basically, the posters play on common drinking terms to show the negative effects of binge drinking," Sharon Roat, co-chairperson of the communications committee for UD's Robert Wood Johnson Matter of Degree program, said.

"We realized that if we were going to change the culture from binge drinking to responsible drinking, we were going to have to address the University's reputation as a party school," one of the organizers of the poster project said.

All of the negative posters ask "University of Delaware-party school?" and all of the positive ones celebrate "University of Delaware-party school!" The question, "Haven't we had enough?" is the recurring theme on the negative posters.

Each potential poster was extensively tested with student focus groups and individual students. One poster had only text, and students who offered feedback said they would only take time to read the poster in the bathroom. As a result, that poster is being produced with an adhesive backing so it can be adhered to doors in lavatory stalls.

"We'll have a captive audience!" one of the organizers said.

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