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Fentanyl Crashes the Party in California's Quirky PSAs
Surreal approach from Duncan Channon
Uninvited guests can ruin a party. In this case, we’re talking about Fentanyl, which often “hides” in recreational drugs like MDMA and cocaine. With deadly results.
That’s the set-up in a surreal, unsettling :60 from the California Department of Public Health.
With its dull (mostly monochrome) color scheme, odd camera angles and jolting burst of human activity, “Party’s Over” offers an unexpectedly frank take on a public-health crisis and points to resources for more information.
This :30 takes tweaks the approach to explain the benefits of Naloxone, which is used to fight fentanyl overdoses:
Kate Hollowell of Epoch Films directs with a Lynchian flair that’s disorienting and compelling, framing the issue in a way we haven’t seen before.
“I believe incredibly serious and emotional topics can be digestible—with an appropriate amount of levity—by disarming the viewer through just the right amount of humanity and lightness,” she says. “That’s my hope with this campaign: That it gets the attention of the viewers, educates them, and ultimately saves lives.”
For many members of the cast and crew, filming the ads packed a potent punch.
“At every step during the production, people volunteered their personal stories about the fentanyl crisis,” recalls agency creative director Jessea Hankins. “Some of them have witnessed overdoses. Some of them have lost people, or knew friends who did. For us, this reinforced and humanized the statistics.”
“We knew the overdose epidemic was vast, but this really brought it home,” she says. “The vibes on set were noticeably charged. There was a collective sense that we were making something important.”
Timed to International Overdose Awareness Day, the initiative targets Californias aged 16-39, with special emphasis on Black, Hispanic/Latino, LGBTQ+ and other communities hit especially hard by the Fentanyl epidemic.
Streaming TV, digital video, social and audio are all in the media mix.
