SOJE/Lonsdale Advertising and Ideal Office Supplies have teamed up with Verdun House to offer orange wristbands with the slogan 2 Cool 4 Drugs, aimed at creating greater awareness of the proliferation of illegal drugs, and encouraging the youngest members of the society not to use.
And, even as the new wristbands are launched, those involved in the venture are hoping that corporate Barbados will come on board to assist in this and similar
efforts to address the growing scourge.
The half-inch-wide rubber wristbands are not unlike those made popular by cancer-survivor and champion cyclist Lance Armstrong in his own cancer-awareness cause.
The bands will go on sale from today through a booth donated by Kidz World Expo 2005, the largest children's showcase in Barbados.
The booth will be on the first floor of Sherbourne Conference Centre throughout the three-day event, and will allow representatives from Verdun House to sell
the inspirational bands and interact with the hundreds of families expected to attend.
All the profits from the sale of these bands will be donated to Verdun House to continue their vital and intensive rehabilitation work.
Thanks to the folks at Coles Printery, a flyer will also be distributed at the booth to help teach parents how to recognise the signs of drug use in their children, while Dynamic Graphics has donated the printing of posters. Nation Graphics will print
a large interactive banner for the booth.
Through SOJE/Lonsdale the message on the wristbands will be emphasised through Press advertisements and posters in which five characters, all young ambitious children, will promote the idea that in order to achieve the various goals they set in life, they must be 2 Cool 4 Drugs.
The characters were developed by Rachel Parker, the agency's creative director.
The creative wristband was the brainchild of Ideal Office Supplies' Billy Lambert.
He teamed up with SOJE/Lonsdale, and the two entities co-financed the production of 12 500 of the 2 Cool 4 Drugs wristbands – 10 000 for kids and 2 500 for adults.
"I hope more companies will come on board with this, because the problem of illegal drug use among our kids is an issue for the entire society and we need to address it now, before it's too late," said Lambert.
