Project Funding Source

Funding for this project has been provided in the form of an unrestricted gift from the Anheuser-Busch Foundation.

Background

Florida State University (FSU) is a large public institution with an enrollment of approximately 41,000 students. In January 2002, The Real Project, a student organization sponsored by the Florida Center for Prevention Research (FCPR) began a social norms marketing campaign at FSU to correct misperceptions about student alcohol use and to reinforce healthy, protective norms.

Baseline data from the 2002 National College Health Assessment (NCHA) Survey revealed that 50.6% of students reported having five or more drinks the last time they partied/ socialized (high-risk); however, their perception was that 72.8% of their peers were drinking a similar amount.

Results to Date

Since 2002, high-risk drinking at FSU has declined 20.9% overall (from 50.6% to 40%). As noted below, those students who reported drinking in moderation (1-4 drinks consumed the last time they partied/ socialized) increased by 24.8%. There was also a corresponding increase of 22.9% in student perception of their peers who drank in moderation.

.

Those students who reported drinking at the highest risk level, 9+ drinks consumed the last time they partied/ socialized, have seen a 24.7% reduction from 2002 to 2009 with a corresponding decrease of 50.2% in student perception of their peers' drinking at a similar rate.

Social Norms Campaign Overview

The Real Project social norms marketing campaign is comprised of a variety of print and electonic media which has been expanded over the years and currently includes residence hall cards, bus cards, advertisements in the school newspaper, billboards, screen savers/ desktop backgrounds, movie theater ads, table tent cards, social networking services (MySpace, Facebook and Twitter), and a wbsite - all targeting the FSU undergraduate student body.

Creative concepts for the annual campaign are derived from FSU students enrolled in the College of Communication's Creative Strategies class, the advertising arm of the University. As depicted below, the creative concepts provided by students are reined by a local full-service advertising firm and produced to incorporate normative messages.

For additional information about the project at FSU, visit www.fsureal.com. Contents of the site include an overview of the campaign and ads from the 2008/ 2009 campaign year.

Undergraduates who participated in a previous iteration of the NCHA survey are invited to participate in a longitudinal study of behavior and perception of student norms related to alcohol use. Participants receive an introductory letter followed by the NCHA survey tool at the same time as the cross-sectional study is implemented. Responses are included in the overall study results. Participants in the longitudinal study are surveyed as long as they remain undergraduate students at FSU for the duration of the study. In addition, non-respondents receive a follow-up mailing, and will continue to be surveyed in subsequent years.

Contact

Rick Howell
Florida Center for Prevention Research
Florida State University
Tallahassee, FL 32306-2770
Telephone: 850.645.0163
Email: rlhowell@fsu.edu