Australia's Hard-hitting Ads Target Young Binge Drinkers

A drunken couple being laughed at while having sex in public and drinkers suffering violent injuries are among images in a new Australian government campaign targeting teen binge drinkers.

A drunken couple being laughed at while having sex in public and drinkers suffering violent injuries are among images in a new Australian government campaign targeting binge drinking among young people.

The first television ads in the 20 million dollar (12 million US dollar) campaign, entitled "Don't turn a night out into a nightmare," will be broadcast along with matching print, radio and Internet spots at the weekend.

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Four Australians under the age of 25 die due to alcohol-related injuries and 70 are hospitalised due to alcohol-linked assaults in an average week, the health ministry said in announcing the campaign Friday.

"These are hard-hitting ads - that's because we are dealing with a group of people who think they are bullet proof," said Health Minister Nicola Roxon.

"The campaign shows how a night out, which is full of positive expectations, can go horribly wrong," she said.

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Apart from the young couple mocked and photographed while engaged in a sex act on a lawn, the ads show a bleeding teen on the ground in front of a car in a portrayal of the "violence, injury and humiliation" caused by binge drinking.

The launch of the campaign, which will run for two years, has been timed to coincide with "schoolies week" in which thousands of school leavers converge on popular beach resorts for notorious excesses of sex, alcohol and violence.