Holly Powell - Final Major Project

My social awareness campaign on alcohol relates to the British Values: democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance for others who have different faiths and beliefs and those without them. My topic on alcohol aims to raise awareness of the danger of over-consumption and the descent into alcoholism, which needs to be treated. I want to explain the damage alcohol does to the drinker and those around them, including drink driving and mental and physical health problems such as depression and liver damage. 

 

Democracy is the right for everyone to vote and to have a fair say in what's going on in decisions, which relates to alcohol damage and abuse awareness because it shows the type of thing that those who give up alcohol can be included in - they're judgement is clouded and when they're almost always intoxicated, they're incapable of making the correct decisions, plus their impulsivity increases dramatically. Having the right to vote whilst under these circumstances changes things because alcoholics wouldn't be able to coherently understand what's going on around them, so raising awareness of alcoholism in order to get these people to feel guilty about their antics and want to quit will ultimately mean they'll be able to have a fair say and know what they're talking about when it comes to making decisions. I want to raise awareness on alcohol damage in order to get people to realise how much damage it does to alcoholic's lives, and make them want to quit in order to have a better impact on their life, which includes being able to vote and be part of the voting process to make their voice heard.

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The rule of law is often broken by those who drink too much alcohol, as they end up committing different offences, such as drink driving or assault for example. The rule of law shows that nobody is above the law - the law has to be exercised correctly, and there is equal judgements with no exceptions, because the system has to be fair to everyone. The penalty for killing someone whilst drink driving is a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison, so alcoholics that make bad choices when intoxicated are still treated like criminals when they've broken the law, no matter whether they have an alcohol addiction or anything else to do with it. By raising awareness to alcohol issues such as drink driving, I want to try and help alcoholics to realise what problems they're causing when they choose to break the law. If showing a drink drive advert helps alcoholics to feel guilty and want to give up alcohol, then there's less people breaking the law, which makes the world better too. I believe that talking about these incidents and making people fully aware of what types of consequences their actions could have means that they'll be more encouraged to make changes to their lifestyle and get help with their addiction. Showing the extent of what damage can be done by the alcoholic's reckless decisions can makes them realise they need to seek help before their situation gets any worse and they commit an offence which will ruin the rest of their lives, as well as anyone else involved.

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Individual liberty is being able to do what you want as long as it doesn't hurt anyone else, damage anything or break the law. This is relatable to my topic because when being an alcoholic, other people always get involved in what happens when you drink - alcoholism has a big impact on other people around you, especially when serious incidents occur, such as drink driving. Being able to drink is a free choice, but when it starts to hurt not only yourself and others when you reach alcoholism, there's a problem, which I'm aiming to explore in my campaign. I want to show the effects of alcoholism and what types of problems occur when you drink too much, and through my advert I'm showing the drinker not only hurting someone else but also breaking the law with their actions. Raising awareness to alcoholism means that those who go sober have a better sense of individual liberty, because they can do what they want without hurting anyone else because they've given up the thing that has been breaking down this value. The more people that would be inspired to give up alcohol through my campaign will have a better impact on society, and more rights following the British Values.

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Mutual respect and tolerance for others who have different faiths and beliefs and those who don't also applies to the topic of alcohol awareness. Some people believe that alcoholism is a disease which can be passed down biologically and also created through factors including the environment someone has grown up in or those that they surround themselves with. However, others look down on alcoholics and believe they're a waste of space who needs to just get over their addiction, which can be difficult. My approach is not to look down on someone for having an alcohol addiction, but instead show them what they could cause and what alcohol is doing to them, to inspire them to give up alcohol to live a better life. I don't believe that not respecting someone or tolerating them is going to make someone want to change for themselves, but instead make them feel worse and want to drink more. However, showing what alcohol can do means they see the reality of what's going on, realise that the alcohol is causing these problems and feel guilty over it enough to make them want to give it up, plus advertise help to show that they can get better. From this, there would be a lot more respect and tolerance for someone that's given up alcohol and managed to live without it, although I still believe that everyone needs to be respected and tolerated by other regardless, because everyone's going through battles, and only with encouragement can they get through them.