Cannabis News DrugSense
  Drug Czar Walters' Assertion of Ads' 'Flop' Absurd
Posted by CN Staff on May 15, 2002 at 07:55:42 PT
Press Release --Bob Weiner 
Source: U.S. Newswire  

justice Bob Weiner, spokesman and public affairs director for the White House Drug Policy Office from May 1995-August 2001, called the assertion by Drug Czar John Walters that the anti-drug ad campaign has "flopped" absurd in view of data showing the positive impact of the ads and numbers showing significant youth drug use decline during the last three years of the Clinton administration.

Weiner stated: "The assertion by the current Drug Czar, in today's Wall Street Journal, that the anti-drug ad campaign has "flopped" is absurd.

We have the data showing the tests that proved that the old ads worked -- teens were 13 percent less likely to use drugs after seeing 'Frying Pan' for example. If the Drug Office isn't still testing their new ads, look within thyself... Or go back to the ones we did which worked!

"Youth drug use went way down 34 percent our last 3 years, when the campaign was rolling. The campaign has been reaching 94 percent of the target audience of teens and parents seven times a week. It appears that Mr. Walters wants to slam so he can re-create -- or worse, dismantle -- the program. That was his threat in his statements before his confirmation.

That's been part of his partisan proclivity since time eternal, unlike former Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey who capitalized on bipartisan and broad reaching support.

"In view of data showing the positive impact of the heavily studied ads and numbers showing significant youth drug use decline during the last three years of the Clinton administration, Mr. Walters would be well served to use and re-use what has worked well and to change only what is ineffective."

Since leaving the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, Weiner is president of Robert Weiner Associate Public Affairs and Issues Strategies.

Note: Former White House Drug Spokesman Bob Weiner Says Drug Czar Walters' Assertion of Ads' 'Flop' Absurd.

Contact: Bob Weiner, 301-283-0821 or 202-329-1700

Newshawk: dddd
Source: U.S. Newswire
Published: May 14, 2002
Copyright 2002 U.S. Newswire
Website: http://www.usnewswire.com/
Contact: http://www.usnewswire.com/contactusn.html

Related Articles & Web Site:

Crossfire Transcripts: Do Drug Ads Work?
http://freedomtoexhale.com/cf.htm

Survey: Anti-Drug Ads Ineffective
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread12850.shtml

U.S. Drug Czar Admits To Failed Ad Campaign
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread12847.shtml

New Drug Czar Says Ad Campaign has Flopped
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread12838.shtml


Home    Comment    Email    Register    Recent Comments    Help

 
Comment #20 posted by SpaceCat on May 15, 2002 at 15:55:26 PT
Good Point, BGreen
How about tag team wrestling, ONDCP staff vs Cypress Hill?

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #19 posted by BGreen on May 15, 2002 at 15:18:49 PT
SpaceCat
Willie is far too gentle to want to hit someone. May I suggest (insert the name of ANY hip-hop or rap artist)?

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #18 posted by goneposthole on May 15, 2002 at 14:38:19 PT
Anti-tobacco on the internet
Radical feminist presence to eliminate exploitation of women by tobacco companies.

It's called:

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #17 posted by dimebag on May 15, 2002 at 14:12:23 PT
Why?
Why is it that the War On Drugs is only aimed at Marijuana? Why dont I see ads on T.V telling Kids, "Dont Smoke, Dont Drink".... I mean... Half of the T.V commercials Are Beer Ads. I see maybe once a month a T.V ad telling Kids not to smoke Ciggaretts. How Come, If they want a Drug Free America they dont Attack The Ciggarett Companies and The Alchol companies.... Its because the Supposed Drug Czars are all fukin hipocrites that Smoke and Drink and get money from these companies to keep fighting Marijuana. These fortune 500 companies would eventually go out of business because they would not be able to compeet with Marijuana. It is the Safest Way To get high... I will be the first Pot Head to admit... It does make me a little slow, and My memory isnt all what it should be... But I am a functional American with Two Jobs supporting My Girlfriend while she goes to Culinary School (who happens to Be a Pot Head). SO whats the big deal....??? Its the biggest Conspiracy in the history of the U.S. Up with Dope, Down with The U.S Gov.

Dime...

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #16 posted by SpaceCat on May 15, 2002 at 13:28:37 PT
Celebrity Boxing
Great idea, but Anti against anti would be no fun. How about John Walters vs Willie Nelson? Now that's a card!

Robbie, your scenario of Weiner against Walters made me think of a scene from an old movie, "The Magic Christian". Guy Grand and Youngman Grand (Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr) are at a boxing match, audience lusting for blood, but they have bribed the boxers to make out instead of fighting. The audience is outraged at the lack of violence!

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #15 posted by SpaceCat on May 15, 2002 at 13:18:56 PT
Not a clue
The fact that Weiner could cite the "frying pan ad" as their biggest success suggests a parallel reality. That simple-minded PSA is the most mocked, parodied, and belittled ad out there! Well-realized from a filmmaking perspective yes, but effective in terms of its intent? Not at all. The very reason it is so well known is because it is so obviously ridiculous.

Anti-drug ads (watch "The Simpsons" and you will see them all) are a reminder that it's time to smoke up and a good source of comedy (or lately head-scratching) to the audience they are intended to influence. Have you seen the latest ones showing the kid moping around at home grounded while their friends are out partying because the kid got caught with weed? The clear subtext to these ads is "Don't get caught". I would be pleased if that were subversion but I'm sure it is simply rank incompetence.

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #14 posted by Robbie on May 15, 2002 at 12:21:48 PT
Maybe "Celebrity Boxing"
In this corner, weighing insignificantly on on a moral scale, able to leap tall hyperbole in a single bound, Bob "I Am A..." Weiner!!!!

[cheers and applause fading into boos and hisses]

And, in this corner, weighing heavily on right-wing angst, curretly the head of our vaunted War on (Some) Drugs effort, the inimitably dysfunctional John "Do As We Say" Walters!!!!

[no cheers and applause...just catcalls and hisses]

Round 1: the boxers come together and throw a few light punches...the audience files out and Fox cuts away to the "Greatest Breasts of All Time" telecast

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #13 posted by E_Johnson on May 15, 2002 at 11:54:48 PT
FInally some entertainment value in this war!
Hey maybe Walters and Weiner could get a shot on MTV Celebrity Deathmatch eh?

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #12 posted by Lehder on May 15, 2002 at 11:20:32 PT
government data
We have the data showing the tests that proved that the old ads worked -- teens were 13 percent less likely to use drugs after seeing 'Frying Pan' for example.

yeah, government data. i'd like to see what passes as proof with these charlatans. to make this kind of determination a control group is needed and the independent variable must be isolated. that is, there should be a group of lucky kids living in households that are spared reception of the government's propaganda. even then, the experiment would be unworkable. it's best to just turn all tv sets OFF.

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #11 posted by masscrusader on May 15, 2002 at 10:50:58 PT
Ads
This is the setup before the reports come out on the new anti-terror/drug ads come out. John Walters does not want to be responisible for those ads, knowing there will be highly ineffective. The only sad part part about Walter's mindset is that he thinks the large amount of "skeptical legalizers" are the reason why kids and teens will not believe these ads. However drug use will always be prevailant over anything. People alter their minds. They will always do that. Sorry John, it is not us who are the problem, it is the total lack of common sense of the prohibitionist attitude.

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #10 posted by FoM on May 15, 2002 at 10:34:48 PT
Cannabis Crusader
That's OK. It's the same article as the WSJ. I try not to post an article more then one time and it's hard when an article is picked up in many papers. Don't think twice about it. I've posted the same article twice.

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #9 posted by Cannabis Crusader on May 15, 2002 at 10:23:18 PT
sorry
sorry about that. The same article is already posted.

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #8 posted by Cannabis Crusader on May 15, 2002 at 10:19:08 PT
Here is some more news
http://www.msnbc.com/news/752500.asp

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #7 posted by FoM on May 15, 2002 at 10:09:04 PT
Morgan
You made me think about these lyrics with your comment. It's seems they can never leave!

http://elyrics4u.com/music/lyrics4u/display/lyrics/?ID=3659

Last thing I remember, I was
Running for the door
I had to find the passage back
To the place I was before
'Relax,' said the night man,
We are programmed to receive.
You can checkout any time you like,
but you can never leave!


[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #6 posted by FoM on May 15, 2002 at 10:03:09 PT
Can You Imagine?
What if a requirement for Bob Weiner to be an expert on marijuana would be that he must smoke one joint of top quality herb?

Can you imagine what he would think?

I can.

He'd go oh no is this what this is all about? Oh how wrong he would feel.

Just a small profound revelation I suppose.

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #5 posted by Morgan on May 15, 2002 at 09:39:09 PT
Drug War Debate?
Maybe after all the flak the government has been taking about the lack of any serious debate about the 'Drug War', this is their response, and their solution.

"See? We're talking about it! See how divided we are about it? We're mad at each other over this! We're serious! "

Even though Bob the Weiner no longer holds an official position with the government (or does he?), this is much like the Mafia, where once you're in, there is no 'out'. You're in for life.

This is theater.

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #4 posted by PonziScheme on May 15, 2002 at 08:53:18 PT
Even NIDA admits the ads don't work
Fed's Review of White House Ad Campaign Says $1.5 Billion Program Fails To Reduce Teen Drug Use "Thus far there is relatively little evidence for direct effects of the Campaign on youth," Report Concludes

March 14, 2002 - Washington, DC, USA

The Fed's $1.5 billion anti-drug ad campaign fails to influence teens to refrain from using illegal drugs, particularly marijuana, according to an evaluation by Westat Inc. and the Annenberg Public Policy Center for the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).

"Kids know the difference between honest education and government propaganda," said NORML Executive Director Keith Stroup. "They acknowledge the reality that marijuana is not the same as heroin, even if their government does not." According to the review, teens exposed to the government's National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign are no more likely to refrain from trying drugs because of their exposure. "There [is] no pattern of significant association between exposure and target outcomes for youth," the report says. "Neither the overall results nor the subgroup analyses show consistent evidence supportive of a direct Campaign effect."

The report defined the primary objective of the government's advertising campaign as "reduc[ing] the number of young people who try marijuana." Since 1997, the campaign has purchased enough advertising time to expose adolescents to an average of 2.7 ads per week, including a pair of controversial 2002 Super Bowl ads costing some $3.4 million. However, the Westat and Annenberg review found "inadequate evidence to support a claim of change in marijuana use thus far." In fact, the report states that the only significant association attributable to the ad campaign was an increase in marijuana use among 14- to 15-year-olds. The evaluation also found "some evidence" of an increase in marijuana use among suburban 14- to 18-year-olds.

"Despite spending billions in taxpayer's dollars, it appears the government's media campaign is having just the opposite effect on America's teens than the one lawmakers intended," Stroup said. Authors measured the campaign's impact on marijuana use by surveying adolescent's attitudes toward marijuana and evaluating their likelihood to avoid using marijuana if it's available.

"In summary, thus far there is relatively little evidence for direct effects of the Campaign on youth," authors concluded. "While there were scattered significant positive results [among 12- to 13-years-olds,] they were balanced by scattered significant negative results [among 14- to 18-year-olds.]"

The report is the third in a series reviewing the government program. The Westat and Annenberg report focused on Phase III of the ad campaign, a period that began in September 1999 and is planned to run at least until the end of this spring.

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #3 posted by qqqq on May 15, 2002 at 08:35:27 PT
....yup....ya gotta admit......
..there's no one quite like Bob Weiner!...He's really special....He's the frustrated,wanna be drug czar who is struggling for recognition....I'll bet you he's a scientologist!??...

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #2 posted by idbsne1 on May 15, 2002 at 08:28:24 PT
Right on Dark Star!!!!....
Also:

'Weiner stated: "The assertion by the current Drug Czar, in today's Wall Street Journal, that the anti-drug ad campaign has "flopped" is absurd'

and the Study done by Westat and the University of Pennsylvania doesn't mean diddly?

Hmmm... I wonder if other prohibitionists realize their hypocracy is so obvious?....

Scientific studies are now "assertions"...

idbsne1



[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #1 posted by Dark Star on May 15, 2002 at 08:08:36 PT
Internecine Warfare
Look who's fighting amongst themselves now! The chink in the armor is evident. It is time to drive a Mack truck through it.

[ Post Comment ]

  Post Comment
Name:        Password:
E-Mail:

Subject:

Comment:   [Please refrain from using profanity in your message]

Link URL:
Link Title:


Return to Main Menu


So everyone may enjoy this service and to keep it running, here are some guidelines: NO spamming, NO commercial advertising, NO flamming, NO illegal activity, and NO sexually explicit materials. Lastly, we reserve the right to remove any message for any reason!

This web page and related elements are for informative purposes only and thus the use of any of this information is at your risk! We do not own nor are responsible for visitor comments. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 and The Berne Convention on Literary and Artistic Works, Article 10, news clippings on this site are made available without profit for research and educational purposes. Any trademarks, trade names, service marks, or service names used on this site are the property of their respective owners. Page updated on May 15, 2002 at 07:55:42