RSO markets responsible drinking

Be on the lookout for beach balls and stadium cups with the image of a brain and an anti-drinking slogan. They are being released by SONOR, an advertising, marketing and public relations Registered Student Organization that just received $5,000 from the Illinois Department of Transportation to warn against excessive drinking.

The release of these new marketing products is part of the organization's "Brain Campaign," which focuses on getting students to think about and realize the potential effects of alcohol abuse.

"The whole purpose of this group is to encourage students to use their brains and to make better decisions," said Joe Baker, faculty adviser for SONOR. "We are not anti-alcohol; we are just anti-stupidity." The beach ball is the organization's first project. The members of SONOR worked with a promotional and marketing company in Chicago to design the beach ball. It took four months of communicating back and forth to get the ball to look and say exactly what they wanted it to.

The beach ball is a gray, six-panel ball that has the imprint of a brain on five of the panels. The slogan "The more you booze, the more you lose: Cash, Drivers License, Friends, Brain Cells, GPA, and ..." is on the sixth panel. The stadium cup was designed to match the ball, but that is still in the making.

"We don't want everyone to have one," Baker said. "We want it to be something that someone will covet." SONOR ordered 3,000 beach balls and plans on passing them out around campus and at special events. As soon as they receive the beach balls, the group's members plan on passing some out in the residence halls, Baker said. "This is something the people can pitch around and do something with, and you can't buy them in stores, folks," Baker said.

The concept behind SONOR, which stands for Social Norm, originated at Eastern Illinois University, where it is funded by the Illinois Department of Transportation and the Illinois Higher Education Center. Baker said for this year's round of funding, the project expanded from three schools - Eastern, SIUC and Bradley University - to seven schools. "Each school is doing something different depending upon what crazy or zany things they come up with," Baker said.

The group is looking for students interested in helping. "It's a good opportunity," Baker said. "They get to learn about social marketing, using marketing and advertising to change social norms." The group is hoping to attract more members to make SONOR a permanent presence at SIUC.

"We are just trying to get the word out about safe drinking so you don't go out and drink so much you can't walk," said Jennifer Herb, president of the group who is a sophomore from Aurora studying chemistry and physiology.