White House Spends 3.4M for Super Ads

[superjoint]

By Kenneth R. Bazinet
Source: New York Daily News

The White House will shell out a record $3.4 million for two Super Bowl spots that will say buying illegal drugs could help terrorists like Osama Bin Laden.
The ads are part of a campaign that President Bush launched himself last month, when he told an anti-drug group: "Terrorists use drug profits to fund their cells to commit acts of murder. If you quit drugs, you join the fight against terror in America."

In a record single-event advertising buy for the federal government, the White House drug czar's office is paying $1.7 million each for 30-second spots that will air Sunday on Fox during the Super Bowl, said a network source.

"The buy has been made," the source said of two 30-second spots airing during the game between the New England Patriots and the St. Louis Rams.

The feds will get a discount on the $2 million average cost for a 30-second Super Bowl ad. The Census Bureau set the previous government record during the 2000 Super Bowl with a single spot for less than $1.5 million, reported AdAge.Com, which broke the story.

But the drug czar's office — formally called the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy — has a sweetheart deal with Fox that guarantees it will get to air matching free spots as public-service announcements during future sporting events on the network.

"There is a match on this deal," the Fox source said. "We have NASCAR and we also have Major League Baseball, including major events like the All-Star game and the World Series."

Tom Riley, spokesman for the drug czar's office, declined to comment, saying, "We don't talk about any initiatives until they come out." He did say that in the past, the drug czar has not melded anti-drug and anti-terrorism messages.

New York ad agency Ogilvy & Mather, which handles buys for the drug czar's more than $160 million annual ad budget, did not return calls. Award-winning British director Tony Kaye, who directed the 1998 film "American History X," directed the two Super Bowl spots, AdAge reported.

Newshawk: Nicholas Thimmesch II
NORML Media & Communications
Source: New York Daily News (NY)
Author: Kenneth R. Bazinet, Daily News Washington Bureau
Published: Thursday, January 31, 2002
Copyright: 2002 Daily News, L.P.
Website: http://www.nydailynews.com/
Contact: voicers@edit.nydailynews.com

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