‘Dumb Ways To Die’ Ad Agency Design New VicHealth Anti-Drinking Campaign

The Victorian State Government and VicHealth have today a launched a new campaign to curb excessive drinking called Name That Point, the aim being to come up with a name for the point at which “just a quiet drink with friends” turns into “waking up the next morning from a blackout covered in bruises and/or souvlaki remnants with some very questionable outgoing text messages to answer for,” in the hope that if there’s a name for it, people might be less inclined to do it.

The campaign was put together by McCann (the same people who brought the virally adorable Dumb Ways To Die to life), and the campaign video examines the really interesting etymology of things like condoms (invented by King Charles II‘s personal physician, the Earl Of Condom), the jacuzzi (invented by WW1 aeronautics engineer Candido Jacuzzi as a therapy for his arthritic son) and sideburns (named after exceptionally facial-haired Civil War General Ambrose Burnside), as well as the slightly less interesting (but totally relatable to the youth, you guys) etymology of planking and selfie (invented by some guy and some guy, respectively.)

As the Name That Point website explains:

“There’s a point during drinks where your evening could go either way. Where one more drink could set you on the road to drunkenness. If you could recognise this point, you might start to make better drinking decisions. This point is different for everyone, but we all have one.

But what is it called?”

There’s $5000 on offer for the person who comes up with the most popular Name for That Point. Enter on their website and drink safe, Victoria.

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