White House to End Drugs & Terror Ads Also Stops Study That Found Campaign Wasn't Working April 01, 2003, Advertizing Age By Ira Teinowitz WASHINGTON (AdAge.com) -- The White House anti-drug office will end its controversial drugs-and-terror advertising campaign and, in a reversal, shift more of its $150 million budget toward children's media as it fights for Congress to extend the program another five years. The Office of National Drug Control Policy will also cease a polarizing $8 million annual study that found the ads aimed at youth were not working and that pitted the drug office against the Partnership for a Drug-Free America. The drugs-and-terror campaign first broke five months after the Sept. 11 attacks, with two Super Bowl ads that cost the drug office more than $3 million to run. The spots centered on the idea that people who purchase drugs help fund terrorism. One ad showed a shopping list that includes an AK-47 rifle. "Where do terrorists get their money?" said the voice-over. "If you buy drugs, some of it might come from you." Later ads replaced "terrorism" with "terror," suggesting drug buys supported drug-cartel attacks on innocent civilians. Ogilvy & Mather controversy The ads were controversial not only because of their message, but because of the way they were produced. While almost all White House Office of National Drug Control Policy creative comes from the Partnership, the terrorism ads were produced outside the Partnership by the drug office's agency, WPP Group's Ogilvy & Mather. The Partnership said the ads were off-strategy and refused to do any of the spots. Partnership Vice Chairman Allen Rosenshine, chairman-CEO of Omnicom Group's BBDO Worldwide, ripped the campaign in a congressional hearing. Spending cuts The battle, coming to a drug office already wounded by complaints over Ogilvy's initial stewardship of the account, bolstered congressional critics who tried to cut spending dramatically. They eventually reduced it by about $25 million to about $150 million. Legislation to continue the program is expected to soon be proposed by a bipartisan group of senators. Reps. Mark Souder, R-Ind., chairman of the Government Reform panel, and Rob Portman, R-Ohio, said last week that it would likely include language limiting the drug office's ability to go outside the Partnership for creative and also language that could require the drug office to rebid the contract won last year by Ogilvy. http://www.adage.com/news.cms?newsId=37504
OK..... Lets see now...... Our highly educated leaders decided, after about a year, that the commercials weren't working. And they decided that they would save us tax-payers a few million dollars. YET, it sounds like they are going to keep up their "War on Drugs" which has gone on for DECADES, and cost our government BILLIONS of dollars, and has ruined THOUSANDS of lives. Will the lawmakers ever realise that they are doing so much more harm to drug offenders thanthe drugs are?
Of course not, that would make sense and be the logical course of action, so it's obviously not an option for now, and most likely not anytime soon.
HPS and MH light sales went up like 1000% an cause everybody be growin they had cash to buy mad glassware, and those fucks decided they need to go after pipes and bongs and roachclips. At least we won't have to see that stupid shit every 10 minutes. I'd wish they go back to the egg in the fryin pan "this is your brain on drugs" thing cause at least it's more entertaining and nobody believes the "my brain=an egg" thing anyways. PEace