Ad Council Launches Innovative Anti-Steroids PSA Campaign

The use of performance-enhancing substances is at a level of concern in American sport. Media coverage of steroids is becoming more visible and may influence teenage consideration and usage of these dangerous substances. To combat this alarming problem, the Ad Council has joined forces with the U.S. Olympic Committee to create a new public service advertising campaign that seeks to prevent teens from abusing these harmful drugs. The PSAs, created pro bono by TBWA\Chiat\Day, target athletic teens between the ages of 14–17.

The engaging PSAs demonstrate that the use of steroids lessens the value of athletic achievements. Each of these PSAs drives the public to the inventive website www.DontBeAnAsterisk.com. At this site, teens can learn more about the dangers of steroids, get wisdom from professional athletes and find healthy ways to excel in athletics.

Please help support this critical campaign so that we can address this pressing issue concerning America's youth.

Inspiring Invention in Children
"Anything's Possible—Keep Thinking"

A new series of PSAs was launched in July to engage the next generation of children in innovation. The TV, radio, outdoor and Web ads are a continuation of the Inspiring Invention PSA campaign, first launched in 2007, which aims to make inventing a part of American children's lives. Developed in partnership with the Department of Commerce's U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the National Inventors Hall of Fame Foundation, the campaign seeks to ensure that the United States continues its global leadership in technology and innovation.

The PSAs emphasize the importance and fun of pursuing inventing as part of an education, and later as a career. Created pro bono by Publicis & Hal Riney, the ads are designed to inspire "tweens" (ages 8–11) to recognize how their imaginations can lead to the technological advances of the future.

The campaign communicates that there is a role for every kind of unique curiosity and imaginative idea as it relates to invention. Developed through research among inventors and children, the ads feature ordinary children creating inventions to solve everyday problems, and communicate that anything is possible if you keep thinking. At the center of the campaign is an engaging website, www.InventNow.org, where children can explore and discover their innate inventiveness and curiosity. Designed by VPI, the site allows children to explore their interests in space, sports, design and entertainment.

New additions to the site include a showroom, created by Driftlab, featuring a series of interactive games and an inventor's tool kit. Also, the "Invent Now" gallery highlights inventions created by children throughout the country. Since the campaign launch last year, the website has received more than 2 million visitors, more than 72,200 people have registered on the site and more than 1,200 children have shared their inventions. This campaign has had extraordinary success in engaging children and the new ads, along with the enhancements to the website, will continue the momentum.

Giving Teens a Boost to Stay in School
9 in 10 Students in the Boost Class of '08 Graduate!

The Boost campaign, developed in partnership with the U.S. Army as an extension of the Ad Council's national High School Dropout Prevention PSA campaign, has been extremely successful due to your ongoing and significant support. The campaign has received more than $400 million in donated media support, and as a result, countless teens throughout the country have received the encouragement they need to stay in school. In fact, nine in ten at-risk students featured in the Boost "Class of '08" PSAs overcame their challenges and graduated from high school. See the message above from Kiara—Boost Class '08.

To coincide with the back-to-school season, the latest series of ads has been redistributed to the media in August. The PSAs feature at-risk students documenting their struggles to stay in school and urge audiences to support all teens in their lives by giving them a "boost" of encouragement to graduate. A new series of PSAs featuring the Class of 2009 is scheduled to launch nationwide this winter. Please continue to help us em power students and make a difference in their lives by supporting these PSAs.

New "Buzzed Driving" PSAs
Available for the Holidays

In an effort to extend the reach of the "Buzzed Driving is Drunk Driving" campaign to Americans during the holiday week this December, the Ad Council and the U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will be partnering with the Television Bureau of Advertising for the fifth straight year on an industry "roadblock" in which all local broadcast TV stations will be encouraged to donate airtime for the TV spots.

This year's Project Roadblock will feature a new series of PSAs and will incorporate digital distribution, as well as a viral text message that will be deployed on New Year's Eve to remind local TV viewers to refrain from drunk driving. Last year, stations in markets representing 99% of America registered for the roadblock, including stations in all the top markets. Each year, the industry's support of the "Buzzed Driving" roadblock generates significant awareness for this lifesaving campaign. As a result, Americans are acting on the message, particularly young men in the target age group.

According to Ad Council tracking studies, the proportion of young men who reported having refrained from impaired driving recently (within the past month) nearly doubled, from 17% in January 2006 to 30% in January 2008. Your support is making a difference.

Keeping It Green

Staying true to our environmental campaign initiatives, the Ad Council is committed to ensuring that all materials used for distributing PSAs are environmentally friendly. The Ad Council uses recycled paper and plastic. With the country becoming more environmentally conscious, we encourage partners to become "more green" also by reducing, reusing and recycling. You can help by recycling radio cases, media materials and paperwork. Another way to help the planet is through donating expired or extra media materials to the communications, broadcast or media departments of local schools, colleges or universities. Instead of being thrown away and becoming waste, your old media materials can be reused again and again in a classroom by students. Companies are also encouraged to learn more by contacting either a local recycling vendor or a national vendor.

Bringing Social Causes to Social Media

Social networking sites are becoming increasingly interwoven into the lives of the American public. Every month more than 36 million Americans use Facebook and more than 72 million Americans use MySpace. In response to this phenomenon, the Ad Council is creating new social networking communities around its campaigns.

Our Teacher Recruitment, Wildfire Prevention and High School Dropout Prevention campaigns currently have a growing presence on social networking sites. The highly innovative I Teach NYC Facebook page connects current and future New York teachers with each other and provides interactive ways to learn about teaching in New York. The Smokey Bear Facebook page attracted over 400 "fans" in one month alone. On the MySpace and Facebook profiles for Boost, you will find a "graduation countdown" widget that visitors can embed on their own social networking pages. These are just a few examples of the engaging features of the Ad Council's growing roster of social networking profiles.