WHITE HOUSE TO END DRUGS & TERROR ADS

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 Related Stories: WHITE HOUSE SUPER BOWL ADS ATTACK DRUGS NORML Objects to Strong Anti-marijuana Emphasis ANTI-DRUG PSAs MUST BE IDENTIFIED FCC Rules Against Ad Council WHITE HOUSE BRINGS BACK ADS LINKING DRUGS TO TERRORISM Anti-Marijuana Ads From Ogilvy Target Youth and 'Influencers' THE VIOLENT SIDE OF MARIJUANA USE White House Drug Office Spots Aim For Public Conscience INSIDE THE WHITE HOUSE DRUG OFFICE TANGLE Advertising Versus Integrated Marketing: Which Makes More Sense? 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. Youth-oriented media Now, the office will direct 60% of its buys toward youth-oriented media -- the same percentage it had previously directed at adults -- and will focus on halting drug use among children already using rather than aim to deter youth from starting drugs. The drugs-and-terror ads will end in May. 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. "At a minimum I would expect that any future irregularity would be grounds for disqualification from participation," Rep. Souder said, adding that while he personally supports keeping Ogilvy, the senators preparing the bill are less certain.

WHITE HOUSE TO END DRUGS & TERROR ADS

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