New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson has made the fight against DWI (driving while intoxicated) in tribal communities a centerpiece of his administration because Native Americans die at a two to three times higher rate due to DWI than any other ethnicity. In one of his initiatives, Richardson appointed G. Michelle Brown-Yazzie as tribal DWI coordinator for the Department of Transportation, which recently commissioned a :30 second and :60 second spot to create awareness of the issue. The project, led by Albuquerque-based Vaughn Wedeen Creative, is the first DWI campaign ever targeted to Native Americans, according to Lonnie Anderson, the agency’s broadcast creative director.
Since you can’t get a second chance to make a first impression, Anderson, who is half Apache, was keen on keeping whatever they did authentic so it would resonate with the people. “In developing the creative concept it was very important not to do anything remotely close to making anyone feel ashamed. That’s not the way to reach the Native public because it’s totally against culture,” said Richard Kuhn, principal and managing partner of Vaughn Wedeen Creative.
Instead, the spot encourages Native communities to unite to stop the drunken driving epidemic.
The spot opens with a community member pulling up to a saloon in his pickup truck. There are two children in the backseat. As he sits down at the bar and takes his first drink, the voiceover begins: “There is an enemy among us. It takes away the lives of our loved ones. It shatters our family. It consumes our dreams and destroys our future. It has taken more of our people than war, disease or crime.” Throughout the voiceover viewers see crosses along the highway marking intoxicated-related fatalities. When the man leaves the bar, a group of people appear and form a circle around him, preventing him from getting into his truck. Then one of the women puts her hand out and he gives her his keys. “The time has come to be strong. The time has come to fight back,” the voiceover continues.
“The whole idea of coming together as a community to solve the problem, to be responsible for one another and to stand up, evolved out of that desire to empower the community, individuals and families. Then we thought if we are going to do this, we wanted to have a Native American director and celebrity star. Then we would be able to ensure that whatever we express would indeed be respectful,” explained Kuhn.
The Dream Team
Anderson formed what he called the ”Indian dream team” after he and producer Akash Khokha sent a copy of the script to Chris Eyre, the director of Smoke Signals, Skinwalkers and other popular Native films.
Eyre arrived in New Mexico a week before the shoot to scout locations. The spots were shot in Los Lunas.
The team also asked accomplished Native actor Gary Farmer, who lives in Santa Fe, to star.
“We wanted the community to say, ‘Oh, I am being spoken to by my own. They’re not talking at me, they’re talking with me,’ ” Kuhn said.
Even the voiceover is done by a Native American actor–Floyd ‘Red Crow’ Westerman, who played Ten Bears in Dances with Wolves.
Eyre shot in HD due to financial constraints, but Anderson pointed out the spots look like they were shot on film. “He knows how to light and shoot it so it looks like film. It needed to look cinematic,” Anderson said.
The spots also needed to look authentic, which Eyre accomplished. “When people shoot Native Americans it can look and sound stereotypical. They use a lot of eagle cries or dress Indians in regalia and feathers,” explained Anderson. In this spot, Farmer is wearing jeans and a jean jacket.
“Chris was really great about pushing it to be real and making sure that nothing was stereotypical,” Anderson said.
The project has been so successful that, with the leadership and support of the New Mexico Department of Transportation, Kuhn is putting together a consortium of interested states, tribal governments and organizations to produce a campaign series with an expanded Native American “dream team.”
