Clinton Unveils Anti-Drug Advertising Campaign
ATLANTA (AllPolitics, July 9) -- President Bill Clinton unveiled
a "new and sweeping effort" Thursday to combat drug use among young people. Joined by House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Drug Policy Director Barry McCaffrey, Clinton launched a projected $2 billion anti-drug media campaign.
"Attitudes drive actions," Clinton told a audience full of children. "We know that the more young people fear drugs, the more they disapprove of them, the less likely they are to use them."
The president called on parents, entertainers and professional athletes to adopt the ad campaign's message and help shape the next generation's attitudes toward drugs.
Gingrich echoed Clinton's appeal for community action.
"I wanted to come here today to stand with the president," Gingrich said. "To say that on a bipartisan basis, Democrats and Republicans, the legislative branch and the presidency, we are all trying to reach out to every young American and say, don't do it."
Clinton also asked parents to use the new ads an icebreaker to discuss the issue of illegal drugs with their children.
"The ads we saw today are not meant to replace parent's voices, but to reinforce them," Clinton said. "Ultimately the best drug enforcement program, the best drug prevention program, is an effective, caring, loving parent sitting down with a child and talking seriously about drugs early."
The advertisements have already been tested in 12 key markets, including Atlanta, and Tuesday night they will debut in the top 75 media markets across the country, reaching an estimated 40 million viewers.
Steve Dnistrian, senior vice president of the
Partnership for a Drug-Free America, says the new ad campaign is the 15th largest single-brand ad project. The amount being spent by the government is larger than the media buys of American Express, Nike and Sprint.
White House officials are hoping the campaign will eventually generate $2 billion in anti-drug commercials over the next five years. Half the projected money will come from the government, the other half from the private sector.
Congress has already appropriated $195 million the 1998 fiscal year. Officials are hoping to maintain that level of government funding over five years for a total of nearly $1 billion. They are also challenging local and national media outlets to match that $1 billion. That would result in the projected $2 billion figure.
Critics of the new program say the splashy campaign diverts much needed money from afterschool programs.
Homer Lopez of the Dorchester Youth Authority in Boston says afterschool programs give at-risk youth concrete alternatives to drugs by teaching job skills, like computer literacy. At the same time these programs get kids off the streets and away from temptation.
"Essentially what we're spending a billion dollars in federal taxpayer money on is a feel-good effort," says Ethan Nadelmann of the Lindesmith Center, a drug policy research center. "Something that makes the president and the Congress and maybe even some parents feel good with absolutely no evidence that it will accomplish anything in terms of reducing drug abuse among our kids."
Beyond the commercial advertising, the new campaign also includes spreading the message in other ways, including via the Internet, entertainment and sports industries;
corporate partnerships; and other partnerships with community, civic and
professional groups.
CNN's Wolf Blitzer and Eileen O'Connor and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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