10. Human Rat Experiment

My wonderful sister, Ashley, moved up from a Media Planner to Account Planner for Balance the Buzz, a campaign to combat binge drinking on the University of Oregon campus. I took her position as Media Planner and am looking forward to dipping my toes into this campaign. We have a team, a cause, and the funds to accomplish something great for the students at this University.

I have an idea. It's called the "Human Rat" experiment.

Students don't care about national averages of binge drinking, or how 'bad' the habit is for your liver, or how unclassy it is for an aspiring college student to get plastered at a party. Students care about what is happening around them. If their peers are drinking, they probably will too. Our generation is trendy and students are a bunch of rats going through "God's- or whoever you believe in" big fat social experiment.

So lets take it down to a simplified scale. I want to do a social experiment at a students apartment using students much like labratory rats.

Here's the scene:
1) Two bowls of "fruit punch"
2) One with alcohol- served with BLUE solo cups
3) One without alcohol- served with RED solo cups (the red is another placebo effect that you're drinking alcohol)
4) Both colored punch bowls have signs that say there is an equal amount of alcohol in each

My prediction is even the people with the red cups would act like they were hammered. Why? Possibly for a term we use in Balance the Buzz- Fear Of Missing Out. People are scared to miss out whatever happens when you're drunk. The irony in the whole situation is that when someone is that intoxicated, they will involuntarily miss out on remembering their night. Oh the tangled web we weave.

I am eager to start this campaign with my colleagues. To stop binge drinking is a big fish to catch with a small hook but it's something worth fighting for.