Since its inception in 1998, the ONDCP's National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign has conducted outreach to millions of parents and teens and hundreds of communities to prevent and reduce teen drug use. Counting on an unprecedented blend of public and private partnerships, non-profit community service organizations, volunteerism and youth-to-youth communications, the Campaign is designed to reach Americans of diverse backgrounds with effective anti-drug messages.

Keys to the Campaign's success include:

• Strong bi-partisan Congressional support and recognition of the critical importance of the issue to the American public;

• A solid scientific and research base to serve as the Campaign's foundation;

• Pro bono advertising created in conjunction with the Partnership for a Drug-Free America; and

• Participation by leading media corporations as well as civic, volunteer, youth-serving, education, prevention, public health and multicultural organizations.

Campaign Components

Advertising: Paid and donated Campaign advertising on television, radio, print and the Internet delivers anti-drug information to target audiences through more than 1,800 media outlets across the country. The ads target youth, parent/adult influencer and multicultural audiences with complementary and synergistic messages.

Media: Research shows that the media is a primary source of information about drugs and associated issues for parents/adult influencers and for young people. Through the Campaign's sustained public education outreach, the media has been provided information on a range of topics, such as the risks of marijuana, the importance of early intervention, effective parenting strategies, trends in drug use and related issues. The Media Campaign reaches print, broadcast and interactive news sources by hosting local/regional media briefings with drug experts; national news conferences with leaders in the areas of public health, education and youth; regular outreach to reporters; and the developing printed materials for parents and teens with drug prevention and intervention strategies.

The Internet: The Campaign has been a leader in social marketing on the Internet. The Campaign's family of Web sites for teens (AboveTheInfluence.com and Freevibe.com) and parents (TheAntiDrug.com), along with other sites developed to reach adult influencers, receive approximately five million page views and almost two million visitors per month. Traffic is driven to the sites through online and traditional advertising and publicity, Web links through Internet sites that support the Campaign messages (e.g., news, health or target age related), Internet search engines and direct access. Campaign Web partners work to reach the elusive teen target through popular sites such as MTV.com and CosmoGirl.com. News related sites New York Times, ABC News and US News, and search engines, such as Google.com and Yahoo.com, assist the Campaign in reaching parents and influencers.

Entertainment Outreach: The Campaign provides information and resources to entertainment writers and producers to increase accurate depictions of drug abuse in entertainment programming. The Campaign holds regular media roundtable events for entertainment writers on hot topics such as methamphetamines, ecstasy, steroids and early intervention.

Multicultural Outreach: Advertising and outreach is targeted to African American, Hispanic, Asian American and American Indian/Alaska Native audiences; materials are produced in Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Vietnamese and Cambodian.

Partnerships: Campaign partners distribute anti-drug information and messages to their members and communities through a number of different channels, including events and highly visible meetings attended by young people and their parents. Campaign partners include the National PTA, the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute for Behavior and Health, the National Student Assistance Association, the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Foundation, the National Latino Behavioral Health Association, Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, Students Against Destructive Decisions, United Negro College Fund and the National Asian Pacific American Families Against Substance Abuse.

Parents@Work Program: The Campaign developed the Parents@Work program in order to reach parents where they spend much of their time—at work. Many human resource professionals say that they believe that employees who have children with substance abuse problems are more likely to suffer from decreased morale and productivity, and they use an increasing amount of healthcare dollars. The Parents@Work Web site, www.TheAntiDrug.com/parentsatwork, makes it easy for employers, labor organizations, associations, community coalitions and other groups to share youth drug prevention information with working parents. The site features newsletter articles, email parenting tips and information about ordering or downloading Campaign posters and brochures. All of the electronic resources are formatted for easy adaptation and customization.

For further information about the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign, visit:

www.mediacampaign.org
www.abovetheinfluence.com (for youth)
www.freevibe.com (for youth)
www.theantidrug.com (for parents)