Washington, DC: The Ad Council has filed a petition with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) asking the agency to reconsider its November order that all public service announcements (PSAs) broadcasted under the auspices of the White House’s “National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign” must identify the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) as a paid sponsor of the programming.
The Council’s pleadings claim that forcing the ONDCP to identify itself as the sponsor of the ads, as mandated by federal law, will “undermine the effectiveness of the PSAs” and “frustrate rather than further the statutory goal of enhancing the nation’s war on drugs.” The FCC initially ruled against the Ad Council in November after The NORML Foundation and the Media Access Project challenged the Ad Council’s request to exempt the ONDCP from federal laws [Section 317 of the Communications Act] requiring sponsors of on-air content to be clearly identified.
NORML Foundation Executive Director Allen St. Pierre called the Ad Council’s petition for reconsideration baseless. “When an entity, particularly the federal government, purchases on-air time to persuade the general public, the public has a legal right under the law to know that they are hearing or viewing content which has been paid for, and they also have a legal right to know who has paid for it,” he said.
“Just because that content is sponsored by the ONDCP under the guise of fighting the ‘war on drugs’ does not waive this federal requirement. The FCC made this point quite clear when they ruled against the Ad Council in November, and there’s no reason to presume that any of the arguments put forth in this latest petition will persuade them to change their mind. The Drug Czar’s office will simply have to get used to the fact that they must abide by the same federal laws as everyone else.”
In its petition, the Ad Council argues that identifying the ONDCP as the paid sponsor of the anti-drug PSAs will undermine their credibility with youth, and have a negative impact on the number of organizations willing to participate in the program. “The real world effect of the Order will be to handicap the national anti-drug program as it is implemented through the media,” their petition states. The FCC rejected similar arguments in it’s November ruling.
Under an appropriation from Congress, the ONDCP may purchase ad time from networks in the form of PSAs. Networks who sell their time to the ONDCP must match the purchase with a dollar-for-dollar donation. Under an arrangement agreed upon by both the networks and the ONDCP, television networks may also earn “credit” with the agency if they air approved anti-drug content and themes in their programming.
In March, an evaluation of the ad campaign’s PSAs by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania found that audiences who most often viewed the ONDCP’s anti-drug ads were more likely to try drugs than non-viewers.
For more information, please contact either Allen St. Pierre or Paul Armentano of The NORML Foundation at (202) 483-8751.