BY JOHN ECKBERG
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Over the next five years, advertising experts believe, new anti-drug advertisements funded with tax dollars could make drug abstinence as deeply ingrained in the American consciousness as a celebrity's American Express card or the Nike swoosh.
But the campaign announced Thursday by President Clinton and House Speaker Newt Gingrich -- about $1 billion to be spent over five years on airtime and for newspaper and magazine space -- must also inspire if it is going to be successful.
"A lot of anti-drug advertising has been striking, dramatic . . . and ineffective," said Michael B. Kitei, executive vice president and creative director at Sive-Young & Rubicam in Cincinnati.
"It has been ineffective because it doesn't speak to a benefit," he said. "The answer to selling anything, whether abstinence or a new car, is to strike the right emotional chord. You must show the benefit to the person and communicate that in an engaging way."
This time the national advertising campaign to persuade young people to spurn drugs is going to have the power of big bucks behind it, said Carole Walters, senior vice president - media director at Norlich Stolley LaWarre, Cincinnati's largest advertising and public relations company.
"No way nationally has there ever been this volume of public service support on a national scale," Ms. Walters said.
"Advertising works, and we are all anxious to see it work in a way that will improve people's lives."
While traditional advertising attempts to spur action, anti-drug spots must discourage it. That is not so easily done, said Chris Stormann, a research manager at Richard Saunders International, a corporate think tank based in Newtown.
Mr. Stormann said using fear may not be effective. "Usually there are three issues in advertising: involvement, interest and a reason to believe," Mr. Stormann said. "You should be wary of using a fear tactic with people who are taking drugs, because they are engaging in risks already."
Leigh Leventhal, assistant director of public affairs for the Partnership for a Drug-Free America in New York City, said the agency has 400 ads that are ready to run. They vary in content and approach.
"It all depends on the demographics and the drug," she said. The size of this campaign is unprecedented, said Thomas Hedrick, national vice chairman of the Partnership for a Drug-Free America.
"We have never used money until now," he said in a telephone interview from New York. "It was always donated, and with the competitive market pressures in the media, we were not able to get enough information to enough people with enough frequency."
Wendy Jacques, spokeswoman for Procter & Gamble, said $1 billion spent over five years for the anti-drug ads -- if Congress provides the money for the campaign -- would be similar to the amount P&G spends on advertising for Pantene, Tide and Pampers.
The partnership had received $2.5 billion in free space and air time contributions from media outlets since March 1987, but in the early 1990s, that commitment went into a tailspin.
"It reached a peak in 1991 at about $1 million a day," he said. "In the past four years, it has fallen quantitatively by 40 percent."
"And what has happened since 1991 is that drug use has doubled and the age of first use fell to between 13 years old and 14 years old." An independent research group will periodically take samplings to measure effectiveness of the campaign, Mr. Hedrick said.
"We know that advertising works," Mr. Hedrick said. "Corporations spend millions and millions of dollars to affect attitudes. This is the same professional application, but instead of increasing the trial of products and services, our objective is to use professional disciplines to decrease the trial of products and services."
Mr. Kitei, who also manages the Small Talk Division at Sive-Young & Rubicam, which markets consumer products to school-aged children, said creating successful abstinence advertising may be difficult, but it is far from possible.
Advertisements from brewers, for instance, have been fairly successful at discouraging drinking and driving, he said.
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