This year’s festa campaign is an extension of the campaign, entitled Don’t Be the Village Fool, that has been running for the past four summers. A set of cartoon pictures portrays the drunken person as being the laughing stock of the town or village.

Headlined Tkunx il-Buffu tar-Rahal, each advertisement shows a drunken person making a fool of himself in front of others because he does not know how to control himself when it comes to alcohol. These feature in the feast magazines of various towns and villages.

TSG’s campaign targets such things as band club and parish publications, so that its message will reach its audience direct. The message is also directed to all beverage retail outlets in towns and villages that sell alcoholic drinks, particularly during the celebrations of the respective village feasts.

TSG chief executive, Joe Farrugia said” “Over these last few years, we are observing a more positive approach towards the message of our summer campaigns. The vast majority of people in Malta today understand the message that excessive alcohol drinking is not a sign of machismo but one that leads to loss of self-respect. However, there is a minority of village fools who still believe in excessive drinking during festas.”

Each cartoon shows a different scene with a person who has lost his sense of judgement because of excessive drinking. The tag-line presents the same clear message: Gawdi l-Festa bis-sens: Ixrob bil-moderazzjoni.

TSG strongly believes in law enforcement and that action has to be taken against those who indulge abusively in alcohol consumption during summer festas. “We would like to appeal once again for a united approach by all those concerned in order to tackle problems,” said Mr Farrugia.

For many months, the whole community awaits the village festa, said Mr Farrugia. It is unfair that a few hotheads ruin the fun, or play into the hands of those who do not appreciate Maltese traditions and want to depict festas in a bad light. This is why TSG is targeting abusive drinking during village band marches, he added.

The advertisements are partly based on research carried out abroad. This has revealed that warning people about their foolishness when drunk is more effective than simply portraying alcoholism in a bad light.

The principal aim of the campaigns is to educate the public that alcohol is only pleasurable if taken by people of drinking age and in moderation.

Mr Farrugia emphasised that it is only a small minority who abuse alcohol and said it is an observable fact that the vast majority of Maltese people can enjoy a few drinks without being a nuisance to themselves and to others. He thanked the public for their positive response to the campaigns that The Sense Group has organised over the years. “There is no doubt that the principle of moderation is being understood and accepted by an ever-increasing segment of the public,” he concluded.