Well yeah, that I agree with that obviously. I do think education and awareness raising is important though. Regardless of whether some kids would laugh and banter and insult they are still taking it in. Others will think about why the campaign is necessary, it does start conversations. Even if those conversations lead to people focusing on on all the other shit that is needed but has been cut, it's worth it to some degree. People and communities do need to think, talk about and understand why all this is happening in terms of the meaningful lack in provision.
Does anyone here remember the 'pace setters don't smoke' campaign from the 70s/80s? Posters of athletes and such all over schools and health offices? Now that didn't stop me smoking but it has fucking plagued me all of my life. It did raise my awareness. I hear someone cough and involuntarily think 'pacesetters don't smoke'. I used to get out of breath when running for the bus and think 'pacesetters don't smoke'. We used to rip the piss at school and deface the posters with dicks and moustaches...I remember it though...fucking hook on repeat ever since in my head.
I noticed another billboard campaign in South London last week. It's #countylines I think. Just had a google and can see there are a few different ones around at the moment. What I liked about it was the young person was postitioned as the victim. The focus was on how they are being groomed and abused. Any ad campaign is going to have limited effect but I did think about how it is helpful to give people the language and a framework to be able to understand and communicate things that are happening to them and/or around them.
I suppose for me the signature campaign of my youth (well, I think I was 19/20 when it came out) was FRANK. Which left a rather different impression. The thing with smoking is that in essence it is a very simple message - smoking kills, or at best fucks your lungs up. There's not really a great deal of complexity to it... It is right there, scientifically verifiable. And you can feel it.
Youth violence... it's your world. It isn't a thing that you could quit even if you wanted to. It surrounds you, it's there with you day in, day out. And seems like it will never go away... Even for me (middle class north London) it was just there, every walk home from school, trip to the shops, night time on the heath. Mugged/fights 10+ times, close calls no idea. I carried a knife at various points, eventually I realised it would do more harm than good and stopped. But yeah. A campaign like this would just have seemed... distant. I'm sure these kids know stories like this; a mate's older brother etc. But it has little effect on their everyday lived experience. It happens to other people, not me. And in the mean time you
are going to have someone threaten you this month, you
are at risk every time you cut across that park. So what do you do? Take comfort in the story on a fried chicken box? Or take comfort in the fantasy that next time that fuck punches you he'll get what's coming to him.
Right at the core of this is personal agency. A sense of control. And I think that can only come through mentoring. Someone older, but similar background. Someone who'll encourage you to rant about the injustices you're suffering, and not see you as weak if sometimes that drives you to tears. And along with that, opportunities, visible opportunities. Accessible opportunities. Watching people you know take them, knowing that there's a path out... A normal one, not just sport and music. Without that pretty much any campaign is just pissing in the wind.
