Dan Boland 11 Aug 05

That’s not half as bad as the commercial with the little girl singing a song about drugs to the tune of “now I know my ABCs” (you all know what song I’m talking about). If I taught a little girl to sing that, I’d be in jail, but I guess it’s okay if it “proves a point.”

And I’m not surprised at all that pharmaceutical companies are behind the war on drugs. Consider this — the industry with the largest profit margins, behind illegal drug trafficking, is the pharmaceutical industry.

I also have a problem with their claim that “the average age of kids first trying illegal drugs is under 14.” I don’t understand how they can make that claim without cherry-picking somewhere… it’s along the same lines as the “half of marriages end in divorce” line. There’s no way to get a true barometer for a statistic like that.

Don Wilson 11 Aug 05

“Is that really the kind of tone to use when trying to build trust with your kids? Can�t wait to see what other advice they have for dealing with teenagers at the site. Maybe �When to search the brat�s room�? Or �How to tell if the little bastard is lying to you�?”

It sounds like you’re the one that is putting a negative spin on something good. How dare the ad get personal and put a light-hearted message at the end of the paragraph. You can look at it two ways, and you’ve made it clear how you think.

Darrel 11 Aug 05

Just remember, smoking marijuana will cause you to get pregnant, kill your friend, and fry eggs.`

Rich 11 Aug 05

I’d rather my kid smoked weed than think every mental/physical health problem they face should be solved with a pill.

Brad 11 Aug 05

I can’t believe they think having parents talk to their kids about drugs is going to be effective. Teenagers are only going to listen to other teenagers, not adults. One teenager who says, “hey, I did drugs and it is so not cool” is worth 50,000 parents saying the same thing.

Mike B 11 Aug 05

Why would Merck have something to say about people self-medicating? Oh wait…
New to me, thanks.

indi 11 Aug 05

I looked at the site and to be fair you can find information about alcohol and tobacco as well as personal stories about how they ruined someone’s family, it’s just not on the homepage.

And of course parents should talk to their kids about drug abuse and the problems and effects of alcohol and tobacco use. If you have a trusting relationship with your kids they might actually listen to you. Sure peer pressure is strong, but in that crucial moment when a child will decide on impulse to try something being offered by a friend, that little voice in the back of their mind saying to be careful about what friends offer you might make them think twice.

And by the way, even though the “little so-and-so” line is cute I was bugged by it the first time I heard it at the end of a radio spot. I didn’t even know what the commercial was about, so next time it was on I listened more closely … so all that free advertising expertise worked to get me to pay attention at least :-)

Ben Whitehouse 11 Aug 05

Maybe they were implying that Lord Voldermort needs talking to about drugs.

Jake Ingman 11 Aug 05

@Don Wilson:

“It sounds like you�re the one that is putting a negative spin on something good. How dare the ad get personal and put a light-hearted message at the end of the paragraph. You can look at it two ways, and you�ve made it clear how you think.”

Huh? What is the other way? Little “angels”? I agree with Matt, for an organization that’s trying to teach parents about how to talk to their kids, throwing in an inside joke about what “little shits” they are hardly seems appropriate.

Mike 11 Aug 05

Don Wilson: “It sounds like you�re the one that is putting a negative spin on something good. How dare the ad get personal and put a light-hearted message at the end of the paragraph.”

What are you talking about?!? It isn’t light-hearted at all. By using the phrase, “little you-know-whats” in an ad, they are implying that it is unprintable in an ad that is running in a newspaper.

That is just a really strange phrase to use in an ad that is trying to build a relationship that can be sometimes a bit edgy (parent-teenager). I have two kids, sure they make me mad sometimes but I would never use a phrase to describe them that is unprintable in a newspaper.

Max 11 Aug 05

I agree, with Mike. I don’t think it’s light-hearted at all. Particularly when you look at the opening phrase in the first point they make:

“Oh, come on.”

Maybe it’s just me, but that doesn’t sound like a constructive way to get information to someone. Insulting their intelligence before you’ve made your point, or for that matter insulting their intelligence at all, is a really stupid idea.

Jeff Koke 11 Aug 05

Yeah, the whole ad has a very condescending tone, like “you can’t really connect with or help your kids, but if you feign interest in what they’re doing, you might actually trick them into questioning their choices.”

It’s not light-hearted at all.

michael 11 Aug 05

These campaigns just get lovelier and lovelier.

Maybe the target audience is those people who are willing to be buy into the attitude PDFA is selling. After all, “I can’t figure out how to protect my little you-know-whats from drugs on my own, so I will listen to what the experts tell me”.

indi 11 Aug 05

Seems like there is an awful lot of cynicism regarding this topic. Can anyone recommend an alternate source of information for parents who need it? Or is the alternative to just let your kids learn about this stuff at school and on the street?

Mike 12 Aug 05

PDFA does a HELL of a job. One mistake and it’s time to jump on their case? I think more than a few here simply don’t like the message. Hummmmm.

“The Partnership�s research-based, educational campaigns are disseminated through all forms of media, including TV, radio and print advertisements and over the Internet. In our 18-year history, we have utilized the pro-bono work of the country�s best advertising, PR and interactive agencies, and the donated time and space of major media, to create the largest public service campaign in the nation�s history.”

Chris S 12 Aug 05

Maybe the level of diction has been dictated by the number of teenagers and singles in their early twenties having kids and not having a clue. Sounds like a misguided attempt to “appeal to the younger generation”.

Dan Boland 12 Aug 05

PDFA does a HELL of a job. One mistake and it�s time to jump on their case? I think more than a few here simply don�t like the message.

Please. Teenagers have been laughing at PDFA’s unrealistic scare tactics for years.

Darrel 12 Aug 05

“PDFA does a HELL of a job.”

At doing what? Producing ineffective ad campaigns that infantize and insult the intellgence of their target audience?

It’s amazing how much money we spend in this country on the ‘drug war’, ‘incarceration’, and ‘pr campaigns’ to ‘stop’ something we really have no interest in actually stopping.

indi 12 Aug 05

I am shocked there is no information on their site regarding caffeine abuse. Definitely an abused substance among designers and coders.

Darrel 12 Aug 05

Indi…don’t be silly. Caffeine can’t get you pregnant like Marijuana can.

indi 12 Aug 05

Indi�don�t be silly. Caffeine can�t get you pregnant like Marijuana can.

Ha! I’m sure my daughter was conceived somewhere between 2 and 4 am ;-)

miss p 14 Aug 05

Why not call a spade a bloody shovel? Some kids are little bastards. Some parents do get the shits with them. A cosy little ad portraying mum and dad at the dinner table having a reasoned discussion with their 2.5 honour roll kids isn’t exactly the height of reality here.

Brad 14 Aug 05

Yeah, I think the issue is that the kids who end up in trouble with drugs are not generally the kind of kids who would have a reasoned discussion with (or even listen to) their parents.

The 16-year-old asleep in the next room started smoking cigarettes when she was 10 and pot when she was 11, and started drinking hard liquor and experimenting with other drugs at 12. She had sex for the first time when she was 12 and had her first abortion (that we know of) when she was 13. Her mother (I’m not the father) spent plenty of time telling her of the dangers of drugs, alcohol, tobacco, and unprotected sex, and she got the same messages at school. They had absolutely no effect.

But she quit smoking cigarettes last year, because a boy she fancied gave her the “kissing a smoker is like licking an ashtray” line and rejected her. And while she still binge-drinks and smokes pot occasionally, she doesn’t do harder drugs anymore, because she saw what it did to some of her friends.

I think that the “viral” method of transmitting anti-drug information, using the right kind of teenagers (not honor students) to convince other teenagers that drugs are not cool, is likely to be more effective than leaving it up to parents, teachers, and televison ads.

indi 15 Aug 05

Brad, from personal experience myself, I know you’re right, but as a parent I still have to try.