The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy is placing a "Drug Dealer" on the Super Bowl. The 30-second commercial set to run during the Feb. 3 Fox telecast introduces a hustler feeling the pinch because more young people are getting high from the pills in their parents' medicine cabinets. The dealer stalks about in the shadows of a convenience store lamenting his predicament: "Seems like half my customers don't need me anymore. They're getting high for free." [continues 238 words]
ONDCP's Latest Spots Are Tagged, 'Above the Influence.' WASHINGTON - A Government Accountability Office probe of the White House's anti-drug media campaign has found that the $1 billion-plus spent on the effort so far has not been effective in reducing teen drug use. The report recommends that Congress limit funding until the Office of National Drug Control Policy "provides credible evidence of a media campaign approach that effectively prevents and curtails youth drug use." The report comes at a time when Congress is poised to take up the anti-drug media campaign budget when it returns from its recess. The campaign's current budget is $99 million, the lowest since the effort began in 1998. ONDCP has asked for $120 million next year. The Senate agrees with that amount, but the House has recommended $100,000. [continues 743 words]
WASHINGTON -- A group of House Republicans has proposed eliminating the White House's anti-drug media campaign and several other federal programs to pay for the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina. The group, called the Republican Study Committee, said in its proposal released this week that "there is no solid evidence that media campaigns are effective in either preventing or reducing the use of illegal drugs." The group, headed by Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., estimated the cut would save the government $1.3 billion over 10 years. [continues 132 words]
NEW YORK - Shona Seifert, the former Ogilvy & Mather executive accused of orchestrating a billings scam on the White House's anti-drug ad account, on Tuesday testified in her own defense here in U.S. District Court. She gave lengthy, detailed answers to many of the specific allegations made against her by former colleagues and prosecutors. Seifert and co-defendant Thomas Early, another former Ogilvy executive, have pled not guilty. In court today, Seifert said did not instruct anyone to falsely inflate their timesheets. She also said she did not conspire to bill the Office of National Drug Control Policy for more work than Ogilvy had done, and she denied writing a string of Post-It Notes to staffers ordering them to submit new timesheets weeks and months after their originals were filed. [continues 1151 words]
Early-Intervention Campaign From FCB, Ogilvy Kicks Off On Super Bowl WASHINGTON The White House's latest anti-drug media effort, which launches during the Super Bowl this Sunday, links drug use with drinking in TV ads for the first time in the campaign's five-year history, sources said. The new work, from New York shops Foote Cone & Belding and Ogilvy & Mather, also promotes the concept of "early intervention" - another first. That marks a shift in focus from the campaign's usual prevention-based messages. Early intervention is a drug-treatment strategy favored by drug czar John Walters. [continues 877 words]
NEW YORK - Liberal political advocacy group MoveOn org has charged CBS Television and parent Viacom with political favoritism after the network agreed to run a White House anti-drug ad during the Super Bowl but has rejected the group's 30-second spot. "It seems to us that CBS simply defers to those it fears or from whom it wants favors--in this case, the Bush White House," said Eli Pariser, MoveOn.org's campaign director, in a statement. "This is the same CBS that recently backed down when the Republican National Committee made a stink about its miniseries on former President Reagan and his family." [continues 300 words]
'This Bill Reflects A Concern About How The Program Has Been Managed In The Past.' WASHINGTON -- The draft of a Senate bill that would oust Ogilvy & Mather from the White House's anti-drug media campaign and give the Partnership for a Drug-Free America as much control over strategy as the Office of National Drug Control Policy is the latest sign that lawmakers intend to rein in an effort they feel has run amok, congressional and other sources said. "This bill reflects a concern about how the program has been managed in the past," one congressional source said. [continues 825 words]
