Every day more than 115 people in America die from opioids. A new PSA campaign from Truth Initiative, the Ad Council, and the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy, aims to show that opioid addiction can start in the most unexpected places.
When Rebekkah was 14 years old, she was a dancer who suffered an ankle injury. Now 26, she is a recovering heroin addict. She also stars in a new PSA chronicling her three-day opioid detox, and telling her story. Not only is it a video PSA, but back in June, her detox was also screened in a large video display on a New York City street corner.
The goal of the six-minute ad, created by agency 72andSunny and m ss ng p eces, is to highlight the importance of treatment and the fact that opioid dependency can happen after just five days and doesn’t discriminate between age, race, geography, or socioeconomic status.
“I want the next girl who gets injured dancing to know what the future could hold by the next decision that she makes,” Rebekkah says in the spot. “Because that decision I made to go to the doctors and to not get the surgery, that’s the worst decision I ever made in my whole life.”
A 60-second version will also be airing on TV and online.
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