Do you know that Phil Collins song, ‘Do You Know, Do You Care?’ It’s one of those Collins tracks that really stands out. It’s a dark and aggressive song about two people in a relational conflict: “You’re lying, you’re lying, you’ve done it this time. I’m sick of all the cheating!” The mood of the song probably appealed to Dutch radio DJ Frits Spits who was asked to lend his voice to an information campaign about alcohol abuse, founded by the Dutch Ministry of Public Health, Welfare and Sports. It was 1990 and perhaps Phil Collins was an obvious choice to reach to young adults. The campaign had been set for television and radio since the mid 80’s but ‘Do You Know, Do You Care?’ gave it a new boost and several new commercials were broadcasted.
I remember sitting on our couch watching television with my family at the age of 9 or maybe 10, and this commercial came on. I instantly recognized Collins’ voice, but I had never heard the song before. Later on I found out that the track came from ‘Hello, I Must Be Going!’ I listened to it repeatedly on my record-player and I still listen to it to this day. The haunting sounds at the beginning, cymbals fading in, the sudden crash and then there’s that drum pattern with simple chords underneath. Collins’ voice is powerful and raw and he seems to tear out his heart in the lyrics. The perfect Collins track to me.
I recently bought a very rare audio cassette belonging with the campaign. On the back it says the cassette is meant for radio use. It contains 8 different commercials each lasting 30 seconds with fragments of ‘Do You Know, Do You Care?’ Apart from the cassette I have several magazine adverts of the campaign in my collection. And then there’s a sticker as well. It’s ironic that the artist who made his music available to an anti alcohol campaign later on became an alcoholic himself. But hey, don’t shoot the messenger!
Different versions of the ‘Do You Know, Do You Care?’ commercial:
