“Stop Gambling” Foundation Rises to Combat Online Gambling in a Bold and Aggressive Manner – A Never-Before-Seen Effort to Raise Awareness Among Thai Youth about Online Gambling.
The “Stop Gambling” Foundation, in collaboration with the Thai Health Promotion Foundation has launched a groundbreaking campaign to combat the rise of online gambling among Thai youth. Recent data has revealed that over 3 million Thai youths are involved in online gambling, with more than 1.4 million at risk of the gambling addiction. This has led to an excess of associated problems, especially during their school break, when they have more free time, increasing their likelihood of engaging in online gambling.
Understanding the addictive nature of online gambling and its challenging cessation, the foundation believes that prevention is the most effective approach. Instead of merely urging them to quit gambling, the foundation’s campaign, ” Tit for Tat: Expose and Suppress Online Gambling,” focuses on preventing them from starting in the first place. The campaign utilises creative and catchy ideas to expose the strategies used by online gambling websites, adopting a friend-to-friend warning style to encourage a group of youth to recognise the detrimental effects of online gambling before they even begin.
Utilising existing online gambling advertisements found across the internet, the foundation transforms these clips into preventive and warning tools for youth. What sets this campaign apart is its unique approach to utilising clips that are not legally protected due to their illicit nature. By repurposing these clips into free campaign videos, the foundation aims to disseminate them across various social media channels, created to replicate the appearance of gambling websites in order to get young people to visit them.
Following the launch of the campaign video, the “Stop Gambling” Foundation, in collaboration with Thai Health Promotion Foundation, organised a forum under the theme “Tit for Tat: Expose and Suppress Online Gambling.” This unconventional forum, visually resembling online gambling websites, aimed to captivate and engage youth. However, the content of the forum focused on exposing the strategies used by various gambling websites. Special guest White8Z, a renowned TikToker, participated in the forum, along with Yuthana Boonorm, who delivered a video message to stand against the misuse of these modified clips by celebrities for advertising in inappropriate ways.
Beyond merely alerting and educating youth, this campaign also aims to raise awareness of the “Stop Gambling” Foundation and its helpline, @RabaisaipanunThis helpline is ready to listen, support, and advise youth impacted by online gambling, helping them break free from the shackles of addiction and reintegrate into society stronger.