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"Smart Women" Campaign

Overview

Gannett recently launched a new media campaign designed to address an increase in high risk drinking among Cornell's undergraduate women. Specifically, the campaign is designed to help engage students in the conscious practice of protective behaviors to reduce both the incidence and consequences of high risk drinking among Cornell women.

The campaign consists of a series of posters, along with promotional giveaways, that reinforce specific harm reduction messages (rather than asking students not to drink, they suggest ways to reduce the negative consequences associated with drinking). Poster slogans and designs were created with extensive input from a series of student focus groups that took place during the fall semester, 2005. While previous Gannett media campaigns have addressed alcohol as a concern for all students, this is the first campaign that has targeted a specific segment of the population: women.

Why women?

Media attention across the country has highlighted concerns regarding the level of drinking among young women. At Cornell, Gannett Health Services regularly administers the Core Alcohol and Drug Survey to large, random samples of undergraduate students. Analysis of the data collected in the fall semesters of 2000, 2003, and 2005 suggests a striking increase in the percentage of women who drink heavily. While the number of men who report consuming five or more drinks in a sitting has remained relatively constant at approximately 49%, the number of women who report a similar pattern of drinking has increased from 34% in 2000 to 43% in 2003 and remained relatively unchanged at 42% in 2005. View Core data (pdf).

These findings are problematic because, for a number of physiological reasons, a woman’s blood alcohol concentration (BAC) tends to be higher than that of a man who has consumed the same amount of alcohol, and the consequences she experiences as a result can be especially dangerous. (Learn more about why gender matters when it comes to drinking.) Consequences of a high BAC can be as varied as memory loss, poor academic performance, physical or emotional injury, participation in activities later regretted, victimization, and alcohol poisoning. 

While data for Cornell women in general are disturbing, the data for one subgroup of women sampled are especially alarming. In 2003, 71% of sorority women reported drinking 5 or more drinks in a sitting within the past 2 weeks, as compared to 39% of non-sorority women. In 2005, 72% of sorority women reporting high risk drinking, as compared to 36% of non-sorority women. View Core data (pdf) 

In the past. prevention strategies for this particular population have been limited. In the development of the "Smart Women" campaign, however, sorority women were important participants in the focus group discussions that were the genesis of the poster designs.

Campaign goals

The "Smart Women" campaign is part of a much broader campus effort (spear-headed by the President's Council on Alcohol and Other Drugs) designed to address campus alcohol use. While other strategies have included the use of a variety of educational strategies (such as AlcoholEdu), interventions(like BASICS), social initiatives (like CU 2 Nite), and policy changes (like the Medical Amnesty Protocol). The "Smart Women" campaign is an example of a media effort designed to help students-- in this case women--  think critically about alcohol. The campaign offers empowering messages that reinforce protective behaviors and suggest ways to reduce the risk of harm associated with heavy drinking. Central goals of the campaign include: 

  • building upon knowledge gained through participation in AlcoholEdu
  • acknowledging “smart women’s” capacity for healthy decisions about drinking (or not drinking) while at Cornell
  • understanding differences in physiological response to alcohol consumption that occur for women and men
  • challenging women’s motivations for wanting to “drink like a man” (i.e., as much as a man) 
  • offering strategies for adopting additional protective behaviors at events where alcohol is consumed (e.g., parties, Spring Break events, etc.)
  • translating a woman’s ability to use good judgment in one area of her life to her ability to maintain low risk drinking behaviors 
  • knowing how and when to seek help a friend or for oneself to mitigate the risks of intoxication

What about men?

Data from the Fall 2005 Core Alcohol and Drug Survey show that the incidence of high risk drinking among men experienced a slight decrease from 2003. While we remain concerned about men who drink in high risk ways, this particular educational effort is meant to address the current research trends (i.e., women's increased high risk drinking).

It is unclear how many men are actively helping to reduce the harm that their female peers experience as a consequence of alcohol use. Given that alcohol is often served by men to women, and that men and women often party together, there is ample room for education and intervention in this area.

It is anticipated that both sets of posters will be read by men and women alike. The protective behaviors suggested for "Smart Men" will be considered by Cornell women. And "Smart Women" will consider the behaviors suggested for Cornell men. Likewise, it is hoped that Cornell men will gain a greater understanding of the additional risks that alcohol poses for women.

Where are the posters?

Two rounds of "Smart Woman" campaign posters have been released thus far.

Posters have been distributed to residence halls, fraternity and sorority houses, and to various academic and support offices across campus.

The "Smart Women" Campaign was developed in collaboration with Community Development (Residential Programs) and funded in part by a grant from the President's Council for Cornell Women (PCCW).