Business students at Queen’s University have created a unique campaign to help educate high school students in eastern Ontario about the dangers of using marijuana.
The Project Flux Marketing group, made up of students in their final year at Queen’s University, teamed up to create a social media campaign that aims to help high school students make informed decisions about marijuana use. The campaign was called “we all know a Rachael,” which created an Instagram persona for a fictional 17-year-old girl named Rachael. Her character was crafted through social media, as an average high school student who explored the use of marijuana.
“We kind of just hoped to get a couple of students interested and talking about the subject but being able to get 75 per cent of the class interested and talking about the subject was more than we ever imagined,” said Project Flux Marketing member Anton Tsyhanok.
Studies have shown that many teenage students lack knowledge about health risks associated with using marijuana, including addiction, anxiety, depression and even suicide, according to Health Canada.
“We thought that it was a really relatable topic not only to people who use it but also to people who are affected by it,” said Safa Majeed, another member from the group.
While the Project Flux Marketing group initially started the social media campaign as a class project, they were inspired by the outcome of the project and hope to continue educating students through their social media campaign.