The other side of the Medal

ACTIVE launches CONTENT MATTERS campaign to shed light on the truth about alcohol
   
Rap stars sing about it, sportsmen and women celebrate their biggest victories with it, women prove their attractiveness with it and teenagers worship it as sign for ultimate coolness – we all witness every day the glamorous side of alcohol. In the face of this picture, a fake picture, ACTIVE – sobriety, friendship and peace launches today its campaign “Content Matters”.

The campaign is financially supported by the Council of Europe. It promotes and fosters its priorities of youth participation and youth as preventers of violence all across Europe. Content Matters addresses the fact that alcohol and violence are strongly connected. The ACTIVE campaign aims on bringing this truth to a broad public. The main topic is youth and their concerns but the contributors are people of all ages who want to express themselves about the topic. From April till November 2009 they all have the chance to write and tell their stories, to shoot pictures, to create slogans and graphic designs bringing attention to the problems and links of alcohol, violence and youth participation. The final product of the campaign will be a book with hundreds of stories, the best photos and designs - promoting message that Content Matters.

On the webpage http://contentmatters.activeeurope.org everybody is welcome to contribute continuously by uploading pictures, submitting stories and slogans which will become stickers, a poster and eventually a printed book. Content Matters is about young people and their concerns. Are young people taken seriously? How are children and teenagers affected by violence among adults? Is alcohol a given part of youth culture?

There are millions of stories out there in the world reporting the negative effects of alcohol. However, they are hidden in the shadow of the shining advertisements, the glamorous movie scenes and the epic victories of football teams. What we don’t see does not exist for us. This is where Content Matters starts. Content Matters is here to give space for all the stories behind the fancy covers and labels. For it is content that matters.