Could happen to you

Campaign Background

The 'Could happen to you' campaign was an expansion of the ‘Spread’ and ‘Stains’ campaign. ‘Spread’ and ‘Stains’ was successful in increasing community awareness of the link between cancer and alcohol. However, there remained a need to establish the link irrefutably. Some of the barriers to accepting this link included mixed messages regarding alcohol and health and also scepticism that alcohol is ‘just another thing’ that causes cancer.

The ‘Could Happen to You’ campaign built upon the work of ‘Spread’ and ‘Stains’ by consolidating the evidence regarding the link between alcohol and cancer into one advertisement, as well as continuing to move the target group along the behaviour change continuum towards low-risk drinking.

The campaign focused on the fact that alcohol is carcinogenic, there are a range of cancers caused by alcohol and every drink increases a person’s risk of developing alcohol-caused cancer.

‘Could Happen to You’ was in market between March and May 2012.

Key message

To stay at low risk of alcohol-caused cancers, have no more than two standard drinks on any day.

Target audience

Western Australians aged between 25 to 45 years.

Campaign objectives

1. Raise awareness of alcohol-caused health problems such as alcohol-caused cancer.
2. Increase awareness of how to stay at low-risk in accordance with the National Health and Medical Research Council Australian Guidelines to Reduce Health Risks from Drinking.
3. Increase the personal relevance of the alcohol and cancer message among the target group.