Tomorrow, the Canada Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Research Network (CanFASD) will launch its first-ever national social media campaign. The eight-week campaign will shed light on the risk of using alcohol to cope with the stress, anxiety and boredom of the COVID-19 pandemic and inadvertently having an alcohol-exposed pregnancy. Basically saying, drinking alcohol and baby making don’t mix.
“Many Canadians may be stressed and anxious during the pandemic and might turn to alcohol to feel better. We feel it’s an important time in our history to ensure that couples who are sexually active and consuming alcohol are aware of the risk of FASD,” said Audrey McFarlane, CanFASD Executive Director
The campaign’s message is that drinking alcohol while having unprotected sex is risky since any amount of alcohol can affect fetal development. The ads also encourage couples to go alcohol-free if they are thinking of getting pregnant or are pregnant to reduce the risk of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD).
“We know that 50% of pregnancies in Canada are unplanned, and that up to 60% of women don’t know they are pregnant early in their pregnancy. The use of reliable birth control is essential if couples are not planning to be pregnant,” said Kathy Unsworth, CanFASD Managing Director
The Facebook and YouTube ads will run until September 7th and are aimed at male and female audiences in the following cities: Vancouver, Calgary, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Moncton, Halifax and Yellowknife.
The social media campaign of drinking alcohol and baby making don’t mix is supported by a website, thinkFASD.ca, that offers easy to digest information and coping tactics.
Other health articles from mtltimes.ca and totimes.ca
