New video aims to raise awareness of consequences of the recreational drug supply chain

Jordan Lawrence, Project Manager tells us how the new film 'What's In Your Pocket?', about the societal impact of recreational drug use in Brighton and Hove, came about...

In June 2020 we were approached by Steve Hill, the Serious & Organised Crime Community Co-ordinator for Brighton & Hove police, tasked with creating and executing a behavioural change campaign revolving around the illegal ‘recreational’ drugs market in  the city.

Different from the campaigns that have come before, with ‘What's In Your Pocket?’, we didn’t want to point the finger at the consumer, or scare them with all the negative health implications of taking drugs. Instead, we simply wanted to bridge the gap of information between the user and what their behaviour meant for the people on the other side of the deal; namely those being exploited in the supply chain, often by debt bonding, coercion, cuckooing and so forth.
 
To spearhead the campaign, Dan Bennett, the founder of BrightYoungThings Agency and our content leader at University of Brighton, got in contact with Smokescreen Visual to produce a short film for the campaign. From here, I drafted a screenplay with the help of Lauren Walls, a fellow student, and for the next few months we reached out to the local community to help make the film happen.

Working alongside Smokescreen, we sourced all the locations, cast all the actors, bought the various props (mint and flour for the bags of weed and cocaine, not the real thing!) and built a community of businesses and organisations along the way that wanted to support the campaign.

The support we received has been truly touching, and has shed a positive light on the awful year that we’ve all had, proving that even at the worst of times, people from all over the country, from different backgrounds and places, are willing to band together and try make the world we live in a better place.
 
What we have ended up with has far surpassed our expectations; Kai Zammit, the Creative Director at Smokescreen Visuals, brought our ideas to life, and produced something that none of us could have envisioned when we first sat down to brainstorm the campaign back in June. 
 
The responses from our friends, families, colleagues and community partners have been amazing, taking what started off as a campaign for Brighton and Hove to something that resonates with people nationally, proving that the issues we’ve highlighted spread further than the confines of our county.
 
From everyone behind the campaign, I’d like to thank those who helped us achieve what we have so far, and those who shares our film and our message over the next few months; without you, we wouldn’t be able to do what we’ve done, and achieve what we hope to.
 

Click or tap on the picture below to watch the film...