Tobacco, alcohol and laughing gas: four prevention posters

The situation

Prevention material is usually written for people who are already worried. As a result, messages about tobacco, alcohol and inhalants are read mainly by those already avoiding them, while the people who most need them walk straight past.

Who it was for

Teenagers and young adults in the city, including school students and young workers. They see the poster in passing, often in a queue or in a social media feed, and will only stop if the first line sounds like their own language.

Approach

I wrote every poster with an opening line that does not sound like a health warning, and only then moved into the content. The tobacco poster carries the ingredients and the steps to quit, the second speaks in conversational language to a younger reader, the alcohol poster offers five substitute behaviours, and the laughing gas piece pairs the health risk with six policy proposals.

Craft and compliance

Three A4 posters for print and one landscape infographic for screen. The posters aimed at younger readers use heavy type and cartoon illustration, while the policy piece uses diagrams and a denser layout because its readers go through it to the end. All four stay legible in black and white.

Outcome

Four pieces were published through the institution's official channel: three as A4 printed posters and one as a landscape infographic.

Evidence The only evidence is the published material and the channel's publication number. No smoking or substance use behaviour was measured, so a change in behaviour cannot be claimed.

Reflection

The laughing gas poster carries six policy pillars at once, and read quickly none of the six stands out. Given another pass I would split it into two: one on the health risk, one on the policy alone.