The Board of Directors of the Magazine Publishers of America announced Monday that it will promote a recently launched federal anti-drug media campaign by “running compelling ads in their magazines and providing editorial support appropriate for their audiences.”
Allen St. Pierre, executive director of The NORML Foundation, criticized the MPA’s involvement in the federal ad campaign. “The ‘objective’ media have no business being involved in an anti-marijuana ad campaign that is based primarily upon propaganda and half truths,” he said.
The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) launched a five-year, $775 million ad campaign this past January and challenged media outlets to contribute matching funds in the form of television, radio, and print advertising.
The resolution passed by the MPA board states: “[We] accept the challenge presented to the magazine industry by [Drug Czar] General McCaffrey to join with the Ad Council, the Partnership for a Drug Free America, and the Office of National Drug Control Policy in the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign. … The MPA will use its best efforts to coordinate membership participation in a national magazine ‘roadblock’ in 1999 to raise the level of awareness of the campaign among parents and kids.”
The MPA joins the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), who announced in June 1997 that it would cooperate with the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Partnership for a Drug Free America (PDFA) to launch a nationwide television campaign against marijuana use.
For more information, please contact either Allen St. Pierre or Paul Armentano of The NORML Foundation @ (202) 483-8751.