You may have seen the TV spots for this campaign. The one that comes to my mind is the father taking his son down the bare, white hallway as a narrator discusses what a parent can do to prevent drug use. The "creativity" is twofold. One, the viewer presumes the father and son are in a hospital or drug rehab center. Then - surprise - they open a door to a basketball court.
Gee fucking whiz. A father can prevent his son's drug use just by taking him to play basketball. Everyone knows that if you play basketball, you won't do drugs.
Anyone for a Len Bias joke?
This ad campaign is a perfect example of people who are interested in telling people how to act, rather than actually doing something that helps anyone.
The so-called Partnership for a Drug Free America is a collection of people in advertising and related industries who can't sleep at night unless they tell you how to raise your children. And, judging from the commercials and print ads alone, they obviously don't give a flying you know what whether their advice is practical or not.
Look at one of their tips for parents from their official web site:
"Ask your child what music groups are popular and what their songs are about, what his friends like to do after school, what's cool and what's not and why. Encourage your child with phrases such as "That's interesting" or "I didn't know that." [*]
Ok, let's take this at face value. Let's say we have a parent who has shown zero interest up until now in talking to their child about what's "cool" or what's not. In other words, the parent has no interest in what their child values or does not value.
