Single males

A campaign was launched in the summer of 2006 aimed at single males. Between April 2005 and Match 2006, 18 of the 23 preventable fire deaths that occurred were males, the majority of whom lived alone. It's estimated that at least one in three of these fire deaths also involved the consumption of alcohol.

Single, male, had a few?  
Pub advertising was used to target single men aged 25 and over. Creatives (see pictured) appeared on washroom posters and beer mats, as well as on urinal stickers. They were placed in over 70 pubs throughout Greater Manchester. They show a photo of a full pint of beer on fire and the words and symbol for ‘Fire Hazard’ emblazoned across the front. It then carries the message that 1 in 3 fire deaths happen when people have been drinking and to take extra care when cooking and smoking if you’ve had a few drinks.

Over the course of 2006 the campaign spread to other forms of media such as radio and the campaign was rerun during the Christmas period to target festive drinkers.

Listen to the radio advert (MP3 file size 1,611 KB)

Listen to the Christmas radio advert (MP3 file size 1,675 KB)

Read the transcripts of the radio adverts

Campaign results
To evaluate the campaign, we carried out attitude and awareness surveys. We interviewed 441 single men living in Greater Manchester aged between 18 and 65. The surveys were carried out before and after the campaign. The post campaign survey results revealed that three quarters of the interviewees believed that the advertising message centred on smoke alarms. There was an increase in message recall relating to alcohol being related to fire deaths.

More than 9 out of 10 respondents agreed that the advertising got the message over very or quite well at the post stage. All those who believed that the ad was about alcohol consumption gave a positive response. Around three quarters at the post stage claimed that they would either fit or check a smoke alarm.