Drugs are everywhere. But where are all the anti-drug ads?
Public service announcements are still running. But viewers aren't
being bombarded with them like they once were. After peaking at a rate
of some $1 million in media time a day in the late 1980s, anti-drug
campaign airtime has been on a steady decline. The reasons range from
government cutbacks to competition from a range of causes such as
fighting cancer and curbing texting while driving.
Advertising's role in the war on drugs has been heavily scrutinized
and criticized over the years, but recent studies suggest that some
messages might be getting through, at least to a certain percentage of
teenagers. Yet, with the government getting out of the anti-drug ad
business, future success will depend on the generosity of media
companies and ad agencies as the nation's largest teen-targeted campaign
shifts to a private model.
Today, far fewer teens are seeing anti-drug ads: Only 32% of 8th
graders reported weekly exposure to anti-drug ads last year, compared
with 76% in 2003, according to the University of Michigan's Monitoring
the Future study, a long-running survey funded by the National Institute
on Drug Abuse.
