U.S. Olympic Gold Medalist Tara Lipinski and the U.S. Women's World Cup Soccer Team are featured in a TV ad campaign for girls that communicates the positive aspects of leading a drug-free life.

Boys will be boys—or so the saying goes—but what about the girls? According to the 1999 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, drug use by girls is nearly identical to that of boys (16 percent vs. 16.7 percent, respectively, for youth age 12-17).

As any parent of an adolescent girl knows, girls think, feel and respond to social situations and peer pressures differently than their male counterparts. It follows, then, that effectively reaching young girls with anti-drug messages requires gender-specific customization.

Two new girl-oriented TV ads from the Partnership for a Drug-Free America provide the ideal opportunity to spotlight public attention on the drug-prevention needs of girls. The ads were unveiled in late spring at "Changing the Score: Keeping Our Daughters Drug Free," an event in Washington, D.C., hosted by ONDCP Director Barry R. McCaffrey and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Donna E. Shalala.

The message communicated at the event was simple: "Parents, don't forget your daughters—they, too, are at risk for drug use." Young girls in the audience from the Girl Scouts of the USA, the YMCA of the USA, and the national Latina organization MANA listened while Karyn Bye, 1998 U.S. Olympic Ice Hockey Gold Medal team member, and Women's National Basketball Association players Lisa Harrison of the Phoenix Mercury and Murriel Page of the Washington Mystics talked about their own reasons for rejecting drug use.

The new ads feature sports heroes and role models, including U.S. Olympic Figure Skating Gold Medalist Tara Lipinski and members of the U.S. Women's World Cup Soccer Team. The ads began airing in June and promote the Campaign's "positive consequences" message platform, designed to communicate the positive aspects of leading a drug-free life. The ads mix action footage with proclamations from star athletes and young girls about how "it's never been a better time to be a girl," and that "it's never been a better time not to do drugs." The ads reflect research showing that drug non-use can be promoted by creating a highly desirable image of attractive, smart and successful drug-free teenagers.

The event also featured remarks by Verna Simpkins, director of membership and program initiatives for the Girl Scouts, one of the nation's preeminent organizations for girls. Simpkins announced a new partnership between the Girl Scouts and the Campaign, details of which will appear in the next issue of Update.

For more information, visit www.mediacampaign.org/newsroom/press00/042500.html.