The 30 best ads from Campaign Brief’s 30 years. 1990: Drinksafe ‘Respect Yourself’

Campaign Brief WA turns 30 this month, so over the thirty days of June we’re looking back and choosing the best ad done in each of our 30 years.

Righto, no pussy-footing around today. The best ad of 1990 was the Drinksafe ‘Respect Yourself’ TV commercial by Marketforce’s Basil Antonas & Darcy Campbell.

Apart from a richly deserved Best Director accolade for Carlo Buralli at the Golden TV Awards, it won bugger all. Presumably seen as having no idea (pfft), it lost out to oh-so-clever spots like 6PM ‘Skippy Cash Call’ and SECWA ‘Sparky’ at the PADCs, but this is the one that stands the test of time.

Brent Stewart, who made a couple of fortunes in market research here, was mightily impressed with Antonas furiously taking notes and soaking up information from the focus groups conducted for the campaign. He thought the resultant TVC captured the insights perfectly.

Gritty, distinctly unglamorous scenes of young people affected by alcohol were set to Kane Gang’s cover version of soul classic Respect Yourself, which had been a big hit in the mid-80s. The song was originally written as a challenge to African-Americans in the post civil rights movement 70s but its refrain was perfect for this campaign too.

Although it missed out at award shows, it was picked a few times in our Creative Circle. Here’s what one reviewer said: “A proposition you can’t refuse, aimed with an accuracy you can’t dodge and delivered with an impact you can’t ignore. A cruise missile of a commercial.”

Yeah we know – you want to see it. Think Darcy’s got a copy of it, so we’ll see if we can get a digital file to upload.