cannabisnews.com: Drug Control Office Ads Entice Kids To Try Drugs





Drug Control Office Ads Entice Kids To Try Drugs
Posted by CN Staff on May 17, 2002 at 08:46:15 PT
Fox News Story
Source: FoxNews.com
The government's billion-dollar anti-drug ad campaign is making more kids want to do drugs, a private survey has concluded.The survey, conducted by the private research firm Westat and the University of Pennsylvania, actually charted an increase in drug use among some teen-agers who saw television ads like the one that shows a bunch of kids passing around a marijuana cigarette in the garage of a suburban home á la the Fox television hit That 70's Show. 
The researchers admit that the correlation between the ads and increased drug use has not been fully established, but the news is enough for National Office of Drug Control Policy Director John P. Walters to want to can the ads and start anew. "We can do ads that can both excite curiosity when they're targeted at too young an age or that suggest everybody's doing it, which undermines what we want in changing behavior. So, we need to make sure we're testing them and we intend to move the campaign to older teens and target it there," Walters told Fox News. ONDCP is also interested in focus-testing the ads before they go out on the air and getting more involved in ad development.Currently, the ads are paid for by the government and developed by the Partnership for a Drug Free America, an anti-drug advocacy group that solicits public relations firms to donate their creativity. As a memory tool, the ads are effective -- 70 percent of the kids surveyed said they recognized the ads. But they don't seem to be doing the job. Of the 12- to 18-year-olds surveyed between September 1999 and December 2001, there was no decline in the number of teens who said they had no intention of trying drugs in the next 12 months. However, of the parents surveyed, 80 percent said they were more inclined to talk with their kids about their social lives and activities. Alan Levitt, manager of the anti-drug media campaign, said, "We're pleased with the impact the campaign is having on parents and having on their behavior in monitoring kids, but it hasn't yet affected their own kids' behavior or attitudes." The ads, which suggest cool alternatives to drug use like skateboarding and playing electric guitar, need to move beyond "the consequences to you of drug use" angle, Walters said, and toward the "idealism of young people" that worked successfully in the new ads that link drug use to funding terrorism. The survey did not include that most recent ad campaign, which began airing during the Superbowl and suggests that teens who buy drugs help pay for terror-related activities.Walters admits that the nearly $1 billion spent on anti-drug messages needs to be better used, and promises to refocus the campaign. Congress is expected soon to consider re-authorizing the $18 billion-per-year ONDCP activities."We know advertising is powerful," Walters said. "My concern is that we can't just not respond to evidence that it's not working. Now we have the fullest possible evaluation of the early stages of the campaign with this study that shows it's not working. Fix it or end it is our objective." The Associated Press contributed to this report.Newshawk: Nicholas Thimmesch II -- http://www.norml.org/Source: FoxNews.comPublished: Wednesday, May 15, 2002 Copyright: Fox News Network, LLC 2002Website: http://www.foxnews.com/Comments: foxnewsonline foxnews.comRelated Articles & Web Site:Crossfire Transcripts: Do Drug Ads Work?http://freedomtoexhale.com/cf.htmGroups Says It Warned of Drug Ad Problems http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread12857.shtmlDrug Czar Walters' Assertion of Ads' Flop Absurd http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread12851.shtmlNew Drug Czar Says Ad Campaign has Flopped http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread12838.shtml 
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Comment #5 posted by Jose Melendez on May 18, 2002 at 05:38:48 PT:
It's the hypocrisy, stupid.
from:http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n937/a06.html?397A New Bedford man hired to help parents combat drug abuse in that city's schools resigned yesterday, two days after he was arrested as he allegedly picked up 44 pounds of marijuana shipped from California. 
It's the hypocrisy, stupid.
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Comment #4 posted by Nicholas Thimmesch on May 17, 2002 at 12:57:00 PT:
Great work on D.A.R.E. contributors.....
...please send more to normlmedia earthlink.net and thanks!
Nicholas Thimmesch.
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Comment #3 posted by Nicholas Thimmesch on May 17, 2002 at 12:53:05 PT:
As part of NORML's never ending effort....
....to hold the media & ONDCP accountable, morally and for taxpayers' dollars, we submitted the following "Shot & Chaser" (where they illustrate contradicting/conflicting news stories, news release, etc.) to National Journal's HOTLINE today, which they published:WHAT'S NEWS . . .Friday . . . 5/17/2002 . . . 4 pm SHOT . . . "Drug Czar Announces Extension of Ads Linking Drugs, Terror -- Walters Hails 'Most Successful Ads in History of Anti-Drug Media Campaign'" (ONDCP release, 2/26/02). . . . CHASER "Drug Control Office Ads Entice Kids to Try Drugs" (FOXNews.com, 5/15/02). Shot & Chaser courtesy NORML.[E-Mail Alert Sign-Up|Hotline|House Race Hotline|Write Us] Danielle Jones, Editor
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Comment #2 posted by observer on May 17, 2002 at 12:25:50 PT
Propaganda Campaigns
Alan Levitt, manager of the anti-drug media campaign, said, "We're pleased with the impact the [propaganda] campaign is having on parents and having on their behavior . . .Propaganda...serves more to justify ourselves than to convince others; and the more reason we have to feel guilty, the more fervent our propaganda. . . .The truth seems to be that propaganda on its own cannot force its way into unwilling minds; neither can it inculcate something wholly new; nor can it keep people persuaded once they have ceased to believe. It penetrates into minds already open, and rather than instill opinion it articulates and justifies opinions already present in the minds of its recipients. . . .Propaganda does not deceive people; it merely helps them to deceive themselves. -- Eric Hoffer

http://drugwarpropaganda.selfhost.com
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Comment #1 posted by DdC on May 17, 2002 at 10:22:55 PT
The assassins of youth...DARE the FRCn PDFA!
The assassins of youth...DARE the FRCn PDFA!
http://pub3.ezboard.com/fendingcannabisprohibitionwhyitstimetolegalize.showMessage?topicID=105.topicIncludes the following articles and company's sponsoring the assassin groups. The war on some drugs they don't sell!Giving teens facts about drug war
              
Students Find Drug Law Has Big Price 
              
"Project DARE: No Effects at 10-Year Follow-Up"Analysis of DAREDARE to be HonestDARE doesn't work, study finds
"Kids in the suburbs who were exposed to the D.A.R.E. program, who participated in D.A.R.E., actually had significantly higher levels of drug use than suburban kids who did not get the D.A.R.E. program, said Rosenbaum. This was very disturbing to us."
              
DARE is ineffective
              
Anti-Drug Pledge of Allegiance Stirs ControversyCannabisNews DARE Articles & Archives:
              
The DARE Program and a Parent's Concerns
             
Study Questions Effectiveness Of DARE
             
Dare has stranglehold on Drug education!
Communities should have alternatives to using the DARE program, becuause of it's ineffectiveness. There are other programs out there infinitely more effective, but DARE has a stranglehold on drug education. DARE has, you stated contributed to increased drug use, and should be replaced with a more effective program. DARE gets some of it's funding from Pharmaceutical companies, so there lies a dubious fact right there.
http://www.mamas.orgDARE Impaired
            
Just Say No to DARE
              
Jack Griffin anti-DARE
             
Stossel: Drug Program Doesn't WorkPartnership for a Drug-Free America Sources of Funding from 1988-91 as extracted from Federal Tax Returns (figures are approximate) by the Washington Hemp Education Network, also from the Los Angeles Times:LIQUOR FIRMSAnheuser-Busch
Joseph E. Seagrams & Sons, Inc.
Coors Brewing Co.
Hiram Walker-Allied Vintners, Inc.
Stroh Brewing Co.TOBACCO COMPANIES:Brown & Williamson
RJR Nabisco, Inc.
RJ Reynolds
Lorillard, Inc.
American Brands
Phillip MorrisPHARMACEUTICAL FIRMSJ. Seward Johnson, Sr. Charitable Trusts $1,100.000
Du Pont $25,000
Proctor and Gamble Fund $120,000
Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation $115,000
Johnson & Johnson $100,000
Merck Foundation $85,000
Hoffman-LaRoche $75,000OTHER COMMERCIAL DRUG MANUFACTURERSPerry Drug Stores, Inc.
The Pfizer Foundation, Inc.
Rohrer Group, Inc.
Schering-Plough Foundation, Inc.
Smith-Kline Beecham, Inc.
Sterling Drug Co.
JOHNSON & JOHNSON
             
Assassins of Youth
http://boards.marihemp.com/boards/politics/media/36/36796.gif
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