Wednesday, November 4, 2009

are you on drugs kid?

In today's day in age, anti-drug messages can be found almost anywhere. Ranging from TV and radio commercials, billboards, magazine ads, dot-com ads and educational programs. Through nation-wide interviews and polls of our youths, information was divulged regarding the types of media and the drug-related media pitches that they indicate as being influential. Youths mentioned television shows and movies as general sources of information (both anti- and pro-) about drugs. They thought that, in general, TV glamorized violence and drug use; TV characters would use drugs, but there would always be a happy ending. Youth of all ages were aware of anti-drug ads in the media. Responses to these ads were generally similar.

These ads are generally ignored and labeled as just another commercial. Many kids feel that if they don't come in contact with the problem, it is not something to worry about.

These studies show that more effective means of instructing our youth outside of the classroom must be sought out and employed. When it comes to communicating important messages, the parent - child or teacher - student connections are not always the strongest. TV and other entertainment outlets, however provide much easier access to his or her emotions. In some cases, TV and movies may subtly dictate choices made further down the road. Not necessarily subliminal, but well-placed themes and lessons can prove beneficial to ethical development.
Few Americans know of a hidden government effort underway to convey anti-drug messages into the most pervasive and powerful billboard of all, network television programming. Government officials and their contractors have now begun approving, and in some cases altering, the scripts of shows before they are aired to conform to the government's anti-drug messages.

Congress has created an enormous financial incentive for TV programmers to push anti-drug messages in their plots. Stacking in at as much as $25 million in 2007, with the promise of even more to come in the future. Some of America's most popular shows; including "Lost," "Grey's Anatomy," "CSI," "Ugly Betty" and "Monk" are accordingly peppering their episodes with anti-drug pitches to cash in on a piece of this government advertising subsidy.

It seems like a product placement plan, but for a good cause. Without a surprise, there is a flip side to this coin. A good question is, why has this plan not been disclosed to the American public? How far will a network go for a price? Some media watchdogs view this plan as propaganda, which is priced and ready for sale. Maybe the government is setting up for future unabated media manipulation. If it pays to employ subtle anti-drug messages, who's to say money hungry networks won't grease their palms and incorporate other plans that benefit the government more so than it's people?

Unfortunately, above the surface, studies have shown that since the late nineties, close to 1 billion government dollars have been spent on the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign, which has lead to paltry results. Some might conclude that this campaign has inadvertently encouraged drug use amongst our youths. With a score of 6 out of 100 from an internal white house review, this program failed in the areas of results and accountability. These types of reports have lead Congress to gradually cut support to the program. From 2007 to 2008, Congress has slashed the anti-drug advertising budget by 40%, from $99 million to $60 million.

Partnership for a Drug-Free America is an example of a nonprofit, American ad agency that started up in 1986 and has seen its share of scrutiny and with good reasons. This collective donated ads against drug use and received enormous tax breaks because of this strategy. The shocking part was the large amount of funding that came directly from legal drug corporations that profited from the sale of alcohol, tobacco and pharmaceuticals. This begs the question, when large amounts of cash change hands for these advertising deals, who is the beneficiary?

In conclusion, these ideas and interventions have their pros and cons. The pros are; if properly executed, subtle anti-drug tactics seem to be a more effective method of getting a positive message across to our youth in the TV and media generation than a full blown expensive campaign. For the TV networks this could serve as a good chance to earn funding. As for cons; for a price, the networks seem to be forfeiting their first amendment rights and they could be setting themselves up for future government offers that hold less moral value. This is debatable, however, maybe the government dollar would be of better use physically removing drugs from the streets of America.

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