Somerville Youth Leaders Participate in Holiday Sticker Shock Campaign

This month, youth leaders as part of Somerville Positive Forces (SPF), a substance misuse prevention youth group that is part of the Somerville Cares About Prevention (SCAP) community-based coalition in Somerville’s Prevention Services division, took to their community to raise awareness about the risks associated with underage drinking. Nationally known as the Sticker Shock Campaign, youth gathered bags from alcohol stores and placed stickers on them reminding adults not to provide alcohol to people under 21 years old.

The SPF leaders put more than 3,000 stickers on bags and hope that these newly labeled bags have an impact in the community. The Sticker Shock Campaign is an important step in preventing underage drinking and reducing the risk of alcohol-related harm to young people.

“This is a really effective way to reach thousands of people and remind adults to not provide youth with alcohol,” says Bhavika Kalia, an SPFJr. middle school youth leader. “Our hope is this will help lower the amount of youth receiving alcohol from adults.”

The SAMSHA 2018 National Survey on Drug Use and Health revealed that 72% of underage drinkers did not pay for alcohol the last time they drank indicating the need to disrupt unlawful purchasing for, and distribution to, youth.

 “It was pretty obvious how passionate the youth are about preventing youth substance misuse based on their eagerness, excitement, and togetherness with Sticker Shock,” says Mary Grace Reynolds, SCAP intern who assisted with facilitating the event.

This project represents a partnership between youth and alcohol retailers with the goal of raising public awareness about underage drinking and reminding adults that providing alcohol to minors is both illegal and has its consequences.

“Sticker Shock is one way to help reduce youth access to alcohol, especially during the holiday season. They hope to remind adults that we have a responsibility to protect the young people in our community,” said Lovelee Heller-Bottari, SCAP Program Director.

In the future, SPF youth hope to expand on Sticker Shock to also create signs on store doors and reach out to alcohol vendors to educate them on the benefits of adjusting signage to include this reminder for adults.

If you would like to learn more about this project and the work of SPF youth leaders or to sign-up to participate in their spring Sticker Shock campaign, please contact Lovelee Heller-Bottari at lheller@somervillema.gov.