Promotion has left some appreciative, others angry and confused.

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NB Liquor has launched a controversial new social marketing campaign to educate young people about the dangers of drinking and driving. The agency is targeting youth aged 16-19 in the one medium that has the most impact on them: the Internet. The campaign centres around a fictitious teenaged boy named Paul who killed his friends while driving impaired, and the ensuing comments from one of the victim's girlfriends, Chantal.

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"We know that age group doesn't get their information from traditional media for the most part," said Linda Stafford, social responsibility and publications officer with Alcool NB Liquor. "They're typically not watching TV or reading mainstream newspapers, so we wanted to get to them where they most often get their information." That being Facebook and YouTube.

Paul's story consists of 10 video blogs posted on YouTube. In the first blog, Paul, a Grade 12 New Brunswick high school student, posts an unrelated blog for a school project. Two weeks later, he breaks down in a second posted video describing his involvement in a tragic crash.

That's followed by a series of related videos from Paul and Chantal. She criticizes Paul's use of the Internet to tell his side of the story, and explains how his actions have changed her life.

"We would like them to believe it's real, or at the very least feel compelled by what they're seeing," said Stafford. "So we don't imply that NB Liquor is associated with any of the videos."

Paul's YouTube video blog has received 18,000 hits since the launch of the campaign earlier this month, and advertisements on Facebook are able to reach about 2,000,000 young people.

"Every year, lives are senselessly lost by vehicle crashes resulting from drinking and driving," Dana Clendenning, president and CEO of Alcool NB Liquor said in a news release. "As part of our social responsibility mandate, we're taking action to help reduce the number of fatalities associated with youth drinking and driving."

The campaign, however, is getting mixed reactions from the youth who watch the videos. Many who are duped into believing the story to be true are heartfelt with either empathy or anger towards Paul. Some pretty powerful comments are being posted by YouTube users who believe they were watching a real experience. Others, who figured out the videos are fake, have expressed anger and disgust.

One YouTube user, known only as Aleexox commented, "You should really be ashamed of yourself. Faking a drunk driving confession? Bravo!" Another, with the user name Jessca666, wrote: "I live in NB and I actually felt sorry for about five minutes. It's sick and you should be ashamed of yourself. I do understand that drinking and driving is horrible but to make people actually believe this is wrong!"

The good news for NB Liquor is that not everyone feels the same way. One YouTube blogger wrote this comment to the video, "Lighten up, guys. They're just trying to spread a message. Who cares if it's fake? It happens for real all the time. They just want to try and prevent future kids from doing this," KachingBling.

Stafford says they gave the idea of fooling people a lot of consideration before going ahead with the campaign, but in the end decided the benefits outpace any of the concerns.

"For any of the YouTube users who really expressed concerns or expressed of themselves deeply, I've contacted personally through YouTube and told them NB Liquor has been behind this. I explained why we did it and explained how they actually participated by their comments. I invited them to reply by phone or e-mail back and only one person did respond, and they said 'this is all good, you did it for a good cause'." Several groups have come on board in support of the campaign, including Teens Against Drunk Driving, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, RCMP "J" Division, New Brunswick Advisory Council of Youth, Association of Police Chiefs, and the New Brunswick Police Association.

"DUI is the leading criminal cause of deaths in Canada, and account for nearly 30 per cent of all fatally injured victims in car crashes," said Staff Sgt. Bob Theriault, traffic services, RCMP "J" Division. "In 2007, nearly 24 per cent of all traffic deaths in New Brunswick were youth, and alcohol was a contributing factor." Stafford says they hope the message will resonate with the youth whether they believe the video or not.

"If you know you're going out partying with friends, plan ahead and know how you are going to get home safely, who's the designated driver. Although we're not condoning underage drinking, we know that it happens, so just be really smart about it."

Please see hekilledmyfriends.com for more info.