Journalism Teaching Note Homework Evaluate the creative strategy used by the Partnership for a Drug Free America in its advertising campaign, particularly with respect to the use of strong fear appeals

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Using Advertising to Fight the War on Drugs:

The Power of Social Marketing or a Waste of Money?

Teaching Note

Case Overview

This case examines the advertising efforts that have been used by the Partnership for a Drug Free

America (PDFA) for the past nearly 20 years, and more recently the U.S. government through the Office

of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), to deal with the problem of illicit drug use. The PDFA

consists of a coalition of advertising, marketing and media people, and has been conducting the largest

public-service advertising and social marketing campaign in history with the goal of helping kids and

teens avoid drug use by influencing their attitudes through persuasive information. In 1998 the U.S.

advertising or to support a more broad-based integrated marketing communications program. Moreover,

both organizations have had to deal with questions regarding the effectiveness of the anti-drug advertising

campaign in reducing drug use and whether the government should continue to fund their efforts.

This case can be used with Chapter 19 which deals with measuring the effectiveness of the

promotional program, as well as with Chapter 22 which deals with social and ethical aspects of

advertising and promotion and the use of advertising to deal with the problem of drug abuse. This case

should be of interest to students as they have probably seen many of the anti-drug ads run by the PDFA

and the ONDCP and can discuss whether they feel these messages have had any effect on them or their

Discussion Questions

1. Evaluate the creative strategy used by the Partnership for a Drug Free America in its

advertising campaign, particularly with respect to the use of strong fear appeals.

In the early years of the PFDA campaign, numerous agencies provided pro bono creative. Many of the

messages attempted to employ strong fear appeals to “scare” the audience into not using drugs. Ads

showing a rat eating cocaine until it died, or in which an analogy was drawn between using drugs and

Research has also indicated that fear appeals are likely to work best with nonusers as opposed to

users of drugs. Given that one of the goals of the campaign was to reach young people before they started

using drugs, the use of fear appeals could be effective, as long as the level of fear is not too high. On the

other hand, the likelihood of impacting users is lower. Some studies have demonstrated that more rational

messages are likely to work than fear appeals, particularly with adolescents. Noting that this age group

tends to be skeptical and even cynical, approaching them with a matter of fact approach might prove to be

more useful than attempting to scare them. A good example of this skepticism was the famous ad “This is

2. Discuss the market segmentation strategies used by the PDFA and ONDCP in the anti-drug

campaigns. Which of these segmentation strategies would be most likely to be effective?

As noted in the case, a number of segmentation bases have been used in the anti-drug advertising

campaign of the PDFA and ONDCP. The segmentation strategy used most often is based on

demographic variables, specifically age. Throughout the PFDA campaigns, specific messages have been

developed for different age groups, ranging from the very young to adults. When the ONDCP became

Segmentation on the basis of geographical criteria has also been employed. Many of the

commercials developed appeared to target “inner city” or urban youth, particularly those involving

appeals for hard drugs like crack cocaine. In the early days of the campaign there seemed to be a

perception that only those living in the inner cities used drugs. However, studies have shown young

people living in the suburbs, as well as rural areas are not immune from drug abuse. Depicting drug abuse

as a problem limited to the inner cities could lead to a false sense of security for suburban and rural

inhabitants, or a basis for denial that the problem exists where they live.

appealing to kids and their parents is a critical one. For many children, their parents are their role models,

and they are respected if not revered. As noted, many parents did not recognize that they still could make

an impact on their children’s decision to use drugs. Thus the development of advertising strategies to

reach them as well as their children is a critical one.

3. Much of the controversy surrounding the anti-drug advertising campaigns has involved the

determination of the effectiveness of the ads. Evaluate the various approaches used to

determine the effectiveness of the anti-drug ads. What types of measures should be used to

evaluate the effectiveness of the campaign?

Given the tremendous amount of money spent each year to develop and run the anti-drug advertisements,

measuring the effectiveness of the campaign is essential. If the government is to continue to expend

hundreds of millions of dollars on the anti-drug campaigns and advertising and media companies are

going to continue to contribute their time and effort, they need to be sure that this money is being well

attitudinal and behavioral intention results, but then seemed to focus on the fact that drug had not

decreased. As with other attempts to measure advertising effectiveness, it is extremely difficult to

determine the direct impact of the ads on behavior. As is the case with product/service advertising, there

are many other factors that will influence behavior. For products and services it may be price, availability,

quality, competition and other factors. With respect to using drugs, other factors will also have an impact

including peer pressure, availability, price, and characteristics of the user such as his or her self-esteem.

Attempting to relate increases and decreases in drug use figures directly to the impact of the advertising

campaigns is likely to be extremely difficult.

Perhaps the greatest value of the research used to measure effectiveness would be an attempt to

assess recall of the messages and assign a value to the appeals themselves. In this way, some

communications measures of the impact of the campaigns would be taken, with the information useful in

4. Discuss the merits of using an integrated marketing communications program that

encompasses a variety of communication tools to prevent drug use versus an approach that

relies primarily on media advertising.

One of the basic premises of IMC is that the various marketing communication tools offer different

advantages and disadvantages and that the utilization of an integrated approach will lead to a more

The PDFA and ONDCP would best be advised to consider a combination of mass media and

other IMC tools to achieve their communication goals. A problem that might hinder the use of a more

integrated campaign could be the ability to measure its effectiveness. It is very difficult to measure the

effectiveness of media advertising and adding more communication tools to the mix may make it even

more difficult to do so. However, the fact that an integrated approach may complicate the measurement of

effectiveness, does not mean it should be abandoned. In the case, it is mentioned that the Allen

5. Evaluate the advertising campaign developed by Ogilvy & Mather for the ONDCP linking drug

use with terrorism. Do you think these ads were an effective way of changing the attitudes and

behavior of young people with regard to the use of drugs? Why or why not?

The goal of the drugs-and-terror campaign developed for and sponsored by the ONDCP was to link drug

use with the support of terrorism by suggesting that illegal drug sales are a major source of money for

terrorists. The ads implied that the weapons and other supplies used by terrorists were paid for by the

money they get from drug sales. The idea behind the campaign was that people would be less likely to use

The campaign was very controversial and was criticized by many different groups. Some were

critical of the government’s effort to draw a connection between drug money and terrorism, arguing that it

was not fair to blame nonviolent drug users for the actions of terrorists or drug cartels. Other groups such

as the National Organization for Marijuana Legalization argued that the campaign created a false

impression that terrorism is caused by drugs rather than the illegality of drugs. Groups such as NORML

argued that legalization of some drugs is the answer to the problem rather than trying to discourage drug

use. The Partnership for a Drug-Free America was also opposed to the campaign, as it did not agree with

the strategy behind the ads. The Partnership feels that the best way to deal with the problem is to promote

drug resistance techniques, positive alternatives to drug use and parental involvement.

6. Evaluate the merits of the anti-drug advertising campaign from a social perspective. Should

the government be involved in this effort or is the PDFA the more appropriate organization?

It is unlikely that anyone would challenge the goal of the anti-drug campaigns of the PDFA and ONDCP

as drug use among young people is a major societal problem. As noted in the case, the original founders

of the PFDA had no political agenda, and established the organization with truly altruistic goals in mind.

The fact that the original concept was based on pro bono work and contributions speaks even more to the

good at it. Government officials are not likely to be as knowledgeable of advertising and media strategy

as those who work in these industries. The case notes the fact that the marriage between the PDFA and

ONDCP was not a happy one and one might speculate as to the reasons why and who was to blame.

Nevertheless, an adversarial relationship has developed that is likely to be counterproductive unless steps

are taken to address the problems between the two organizations.