Commercials Are My Anti-Drug. Also Parents.
Submitted by Boys and Schools Blog
If, like me, you watch far too much TV and an embarrassing amount of it is of the cable reality show type (that is, if you have an informed opinion on the future of Flavor Flav’s and Brett Michael’s love lives), you will probably have noticed some shifts in the media strategies of the anti-drug campaigns aimed at young adults. Among other things, in recent months, I’ve seen efforts aimed at getting parents more aware and involved in what their children are doing, a new campaign warning parents about the possibility and ease of teen abuse of prescription drugs, and (my favorite) a shift in anti-marijuana advertising from dwelling on possibly horrific outcomes to exploring the possibility that smoking pot can leave one as an under-employed 30-something loser who mooches off his parents. (And who says there’s never any truth in advertising?) Honestly, I’ve always been something of a fan of anti-drug advertising, as it tends to be creative in its approach, and it’s hard to think of a more difficult creative task than to convince teenagers (who are not exactly famous for their tendency to worry about their mortality or long-term health) not to buy something that doesn’t need to advertise to sell like crazy, and which carries no little bit of entertainment and counter-culture glamour.
So why am I even interested? Well, among other things, drug use–like nearly every other high-risk adolescent behavior–remains more common among boys than girls, and it tends to have a pretty strongly negative effect on boys’ education, health, and life prospects. So it’s interesting to see how the anti-drug campaigns develop. Take, for example, the aforementioned new focus on prescription drug abuse, which you may have first noticed among the hilarious talking animals and Adventures In CGI that made up this year’s Superbowl ads. Those are actually part of a new initative from the Office of National Drug Control Policy, which launched the effort in response to the increase in drug treatment admissions for prescription painkillers, the fact that teens abuse prescription drugs more than any other drug except marijuana, and the evidence that parents are largely unaware of the problem. So that’s today’s public service message: keep an eye on your medicine cabinet, because it’s the easiest and cheapest source of a high for the average teenager. What with the vast majority of medicine cabinets being unarmed and unlikely to require cash up front.
Incidentally, if you’re interested in more details about the government’s national anti-drug strategy, President Bush will be addressing the issue tomorrow (Saturday, March 1) during his weekly national radio address. And if you’re into reading government budgets (and if you are, please keep that to yourself, because some things are far too weird for a family blog like this one), you can see the budget summary of the strategy here.
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