A Failing Cause Thus Far, But Hope Still Exists
Over the last four decades U.S. policymakers have enacted a set of counterproductive drug policiescollectively regarded as the war on drugs, the drug war, or drug prohibition. These policies generally have twothings in common: a heavy reliance on law enforcement, the criminal justice system and the military in dealing with certain drugs; and an addiction to abstinence-only approaches to treatment and prevention, to the exclusion of proven, evidence-based interventions. This costly, punitive, zero-tolerance approach has overwhelmingly failed. Despite the incarceration of tens of millions of Americans and more than a trillion dollars of spending, illegal drugs remain cheap, potent and widely available. The harms associated with them – addiction, overdose, and the spread of HIV/AIDS and hepatitis B and C continue to persist in every community. Meanwhile the war on drugs is creating problems of its own – broken families, increased poverty, racial disparities, wasted tax dollars, prison overcrowding and eroded civil liberties.
However there are a number of ways that you, an individual can help to promote the cause of ridding of drug abuse in teens nationwide.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/ondcp/Campaign-Effectiveness-and-Rigor
Independent studies show the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign’s Above the Influence is working and is having a positive effect on teen drug use. These results are consistent with the Media Campaign’s Youth Tracking Survey which shows youth exposed to Above the Influence are less likely to initiate drug use. This campaign is a volunteer ran committee that can both work with your child, friend, neighbor, family, etc. in the hopes of curing their addiction. If you see someone you love falling to drug addiction visit the website and email the editors.
Step1: Exploratory ResearchTo develop new ads and campaign messages, the Media Campaign conducts literature reviews, incorporates input from a variety of experts in public health, prevention, treatment, and advertising, and obtains scientific and factual claim reviews by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Additionally, the Media Campaign regularly conducts exploratory research with groups of teens, parents, leaders of youth-serving organizations, and other community stakeholders. Finally, the Campaign maintains regular communication with an expert panel—the Media Campaign Advisory Team—comprised of public health, prevention, treatment, and advertising experts who advise on Campaign development and strategy.
Step 2: Qualitative of "Focus Group" TestingEarly in the development phase of all Media Campaign advertising, competing ads undergo a rigorous qualitative evaluation among members of the target audience in at least two geographic markets. During focus group testing, members of the target audiences are gathered together to review ad concepts and discuss them in a moderated setting. Results from this focus group testing are used to improve the messages; only the most promising ad concepts are produced.
Step 3: Qualitative or "Copy Testing" Each TV commercial must pass quantitative testing before being aired. Quantitative or “copy testing” places each ad in front of approximately 300 members of the target audience to assess the ad’s ability to strengthen anti-drug beliefs and attitudes; the ad viewers are compared to a control group that does not view the ad. Each ad must significantly strengthen anti-drug beliefs and attitudes in the test group compared to the matched control group that does not view the ad. A TV commercial will not air unless it strengthens beliefs or intentions associated with not using drugs.
Join the wildly popular nationwide campaign at http://www.abovetheinfluence.com.
"The recently redesigned, youth-targeted Above the Influence campaign balances broad prevention messaging at the national level with targeted efforts at the local community level. This new approach allows the campaign to continue to reach all teens across the country with a highly visible and effective national messaging presence while encouraging youth participation with ATI at the community level. Youth-serving organizations, such as Drug-Free Community grantees, Boys and Girls Clubs of America, SADD Chapters, Girl’s Inc., Girl Scouts, Community Anti‐Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA), the National Organization for Youth Safety (NOYS), ASPIRA, and Y’s (formerly YMCAs), work directly with the Media Campaign to implement on-the-ground Above the Influence activities with teens."
However there are a number of ways that you, an individual can help to promote the cause of ridding of drug abuse in teens nationwide.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/ondcp/Campaign-Effectiveness-and-Rigor
Independent studies show the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign’s Above the Influence is working and is having a positive effect on teen drug use. These results are consistent with the Media Campaign’s Youth Tracking Survey which shows youth exposed to Above the Influence are less likely to initiate drug use. This campaign is a volunteer ran committee that can both work with your child, friend, neighbor, family, etc. in the hopes of curing their addiction. If you see someone you love falling to drug addiction visit the website and email the editors.
Step1: Exploratory ResearchTo develop new ads and campaign messages, the Media Campaign conducts literature reviews, incorporates input from a variety of experts in public health, prevention, treatment, and advertising, and obtains scientific and factual claim reviews by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Additionally, the Media Campaign regularly conducts exploratory research with groups of teens, parents, leaders of youth-serving organizations, and other community stakeholders. Finally, the Campaign maintains regular communication with an expert panel—the Media Campaign Advisory Team—comprised of public health, prevention, treatment, and advertising experts who advise on Campaign development and strategy.
Step 2: Qualitative of "Focus Group" TestingEarly in the development phase of all Media Campaign advertising, competing ads undergo a rigorous qualitative evaluation among members of the target audience in at least two geographic markets. During focus group testing, members of the target audiences are gathered together to review ad concepts and discuss them in a moderated setting. Results from this focus group testing are used to improve the messages; only the most promising ad concepts are produced.
Step 3: Qualitative or "Copy Testing" Each TV commercial must pass quantitative testing before being aired. Quantitative or “copy testing” places each ad in front of approximately 300 members of the target audience to assess the ad’s ability to strengthen anti-drug beliefs and attitudes; the ad viewers are compared to a control group that does not view the ad. Each ad must significantly strengthen anti-drug beliefs and attitudes in the test group compared to the matched control group that does not view the ad. A TV commercial will not air unless it strengthens beliefs or intentions associated with not using drugs.
Join the wildly popular nationwide campaign at http://www.abovetheinfluence.com.
"The recently redesigned, youth-targeted Above the Influence campaign balances broad prevention messaging at the national level with targeted efforts at the local community level. This new approach allows the campaign to continue to reach all teens across the country with a highly visible and effective national messaging presence while encouraging youth participation with ATI at the community level. Youth-serving organizations, such as Drug-Free Community grantees, Boys and Girls Clubs of America, SADD Chapters, Girl’s Inc., Girl Scouts, Community Anti‐Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA), the National Organization for Youth Safety (NOYS), ASPIRA, and Y’s (formerly YMCAs), work directly with the Media Campaign to implement on-the-ground Above the Influence activities with teens."
Downloadable Artifacts
Please download the following to further assist the campaign: