Meth Use in Teens: Simple Gritty Ads Used in War on Drugs

If a "picture is worth a thousand words", then these ads may "save thousands of lives".



This great banner ad from the Arizona Meth Project in the newspaper, The Arizona Republic, piqued our interest. Stunningly visual, gritty, simple, and aimed at teens, we wanted to feature some of their other ads.

From the Arizona Meth site:
The ARIZONA METH PROJECT is a large-scale exercise in prevention, aimed at significantly reducing Meth use in Arizona. The integrated program consists of an ongoing, research-based marketing campaign, supported by community outreach and public policy initiatives, that realistically and graphically communicates the risks of methamphetamine to the youth of Arizona. Source - Arizona Meth Project

These ads are simple, aimed at the vanities of youth, and visually disturbing, designed to reach the teenager who might be at the edges of dabbling in the destructiveness of meth.





Originally the Montana Meth Project, funded by software billionaire Thomas Siebel. In 2006, officials from the state of Arizona flew up to Montana to meet with Siebel:
On Tuesday, county and state officials, including staff members from the Governor's Office and the Attorney General's Office, will fly to Helena, Mont., to watch the latest round of TV spots and meet with Siebel. The multimillion-dollar ad campaign, "Not Even Once," has saturated the airwaves in Montana, helping reduce meth use among teens by as much as 30 percent.

"I just don't think we have time to waste," Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard said. "I don't think there is hardly a family in Arizona that doesn't have some tragedy associated with meth. It's scary that kids think this is a drug you can experiment with at parties and it won't hurt you.

"We need teenagers talking to teenagers." Source - Arizona Republic























Ads, an integral part of our lives. The teens these ads target are part of a generation of kids bombarded by literally millions of ads beamed into their lives, by way of television, print, and radio.

These kids can be jaded, a soft-cell won't work. Only the "truth" about what happens in the world of meth will hit home.

Kudos to the Montana Meth Project and Thomas Siebel. Proof that one person can make a huge difference in a lot of people's lives.

By LBG

Image - Adweek
Image - flapsblog
Image - Adzilla
Image - Thirdway Blog
Image - Favor.Org
Image - Healthbolt.net

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