Chicago meth
campaign enters second phase

"Crystal Breaks," a yearlong advertising campaign designed to deter crystal meth use among Chicago gay men, entered its second phase with a sobering television commercial now airing on popular cable channels.

The 30-second spot begins with an attractive man high on the drug and ends with the user's body combusting and shattering into pieces. Airing in Chicago on the Bravo, TLC, and MTV networks, the ads are part of the Chicago Crystal Meth Task Force's awareness campaign.

"The campaign targets the homosexual population because they are more at risk, but it doesn't matter who you are, because crystal meth is such a huge epidemic," said Erin Donahue, corporate affairs representative at Leo Burnett USA, the parent company of advertising agency Lapiz, which created the campaign pro bono.

"We're hoping to get more national attention and eventually air [the commercials] nationwide," Donahue said.

The television advertising is coordinated with print ads, outside billboards, radio spots, and a Web site that all carry the same message: Meth shatters lives.

This marketing phase follows the campaign's surprise kickoff, which played out during Chicago's Northalsted Market Days festival on August 6. During an act by drag queen Lady Bunny, a glass-encased image of two men embracing was shown to the audience, and minutes later four recovering meth users took hammers to the glass. Simultaneously, two banners on each side of the stage unfurled, revealing statistics about the drug. (Neal Broverman, Advocate.com)