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CheebaMonkey

New Study: Anti-Drug Ads Backfire
MPP | May 26, 2004

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS -- Government-sponsored anti-drug commercials backfire dramatically, provoking thoughts directly opposed to what the ads' creators intend, according to new research findings to be presented on Friday, May 28, at the American Psychological Society's annual convention in Chicago.

[CheebaMonkey: D'oh! http://www.marijuana.com/420/attachm...tid=2658&stc=1]

The pilot study, part of an ongoing project, differs from prior research on the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign in that it asked college student volunteers to give detailed descriptions of the thoughts provoked by the commercials. By nearly three-to-one, the thoughts reported by the students ran counter to the anti-drug messages contained in the ads, which are sponsored by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

[CheebaMonkey: Could that be because the commercials are absurd?]

"For example," said study co-author Dr. Maria Czyzewska of Texas State University at San Marcos, "in response to ads linking drug use to the war on terror, the most frequent unanticipated thoughts were that marijuana should be legalized, the war on drugs has been ineffective, and that marijuana users should grow their own. This is a classic example of the 'boomerang effect' that other researchers have warned about: Commercials producing a response that is precisely the opposite of what the ads' creators intended."

Czyzewska will be available for media interviews during the APS convention.

This is the latest in a wave of studies casting doubt on the ad campaign's effectiveness. Research reported earlier this month by Dr. Carson Wagner of the University of Texas at Austin found that those who paid closest attention to the commercials were more likely to have positive attitudes toward drugs. And the official, government-funded evaluation of the campaign, conducted by the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School for Communication, reported, "There is little evidence of direct favorable Campaign effects on youth."

[CheebaMonkey: Yet we keep wasting money on these commericals.]

In a second study to be presented at the APS meeting on Saturday, May 29, Czyzewska and co-author Dr. Harvey Ginsburg cite the media campaign along with the administration's promotion of random student drug testing as examples of "public policy based on misinformation." They suggest that scientists need to develop a codified approach to addressing the misuse of science.

[CheebaMonkey: The solution is simple: stop BSing people about druuuuuuuugs.]

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Suetaz

Good one Cheebs!
It's about time someone had the smarts to do these studies. Well done students! Do lots more of these studies and get the truth out there!

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SevenLeafs

Hey, I'll say it before and I'll say it again:

That's what they get for lying to people .

Peace.7L

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"A soul in tension that's learning to fly
Condition grounded but determined to try
Can't keep my eyes from the circling skies
Tongue-tied and twisted just an earth-bound misfit"
- Pink Floyd -

Just say KNOW!

AlucardOrange3

In a way, I'm glad they're spending money to make dumba$$ commercials, for a few reasons:

1. Anyone with a brain can see how ridiculous they are, even if they don't want to say it out loud. In this case, they were a little TOO light on the propaganda. Hitler once said something along the lines of "the government can tell massive lies to the public quite easily because the public would never dream of telling such huge lies themselves, and thus think their government quite incapable of it." In this case, the lies aren't big enough or crazy enough for most people to care about one way or another.

2. It gives me (and anyone else with progressive views on drug laws) a perfect chance to make the government look bad (they really do it to themselves ) and increase sympathy for the cause. As it is, you can't really bring up the topic of drugs in this country for honest discussion because people immediately question why you have a passionate opinion that differs from the government's. The answer they tell themselves is "well he must do drugs and he's just trying to justify it". The commercials, however, give you an excellent reason to bring up the topic and introduce some common sense into the fray.

3. The more times the government lies and people find out about it quickly, the less they're likely to just blindly believe propaganda in the future. Or at least that's the theory (Korea --> Vietnam --> Gulf Wars kind of blow to **** the theory that Americans will get smarter about government bull$hit)

So anyway, hows about another armed revolution? Maybe I'm old fashioned but changing the system through "legitimate" channels hasn't been workin so well.

AO3

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"When a true genius appears in the world, you shall know him by this sign; that all the dunces are in confederacy against him." Jonathan Swift

SevenLeafs

Hate hate hate haaaateeeee those kinds of comments. It goes to show you that people can be very narrowminded.

Peace.7L

 

Hydrosan

You want to watch that Science abuse, science can be addictive, look at that chap who injected dogs brains, he only used science once, thats right only once, and it wasn't even high % science, and now he's labled 'government expert' for the rest of his life. He had to develop a urine test and convince Nancy Regan to make all business that works with the gov use it on their employees, just to make ends meet, how else could he possibly make a living once labled 'gov expert'?

Shouldn't there be a % of usefulness before these 'experiments' are classed as a shedule 1 science?

Gov Science, just say KNOW

San

smoking_joe_lee

Hi CheebaMonkey! You said, "The solution is simple: stop BSing people about druuuugs." Well said! The only problem is that the campaign of spreading druuuuuug "missinformation" has been going on for so long that if it were to stop today it would probably take years before the confidence of the people were regained. Credibility is all to easily lost and difficult to regain.
Hey AlucardOrange3, is this the Hitler quote you were thinking of? "The great masses of the people will more easily fall victims to a big lie than a small one."
Related quotes showing an aversion for the truth include:
"I am not a crook." Dick Nixon
"Read my lips, no new taxes." G. Bush I
"I did not have sexual relations with that woman." Bill Clinton
"Smoke pot today; inject heroine tomorrow." most any prohibitionist
I'm Smoking Joe Lee and I need a new tag line!

fight4rights

This is an excellent article! Thanks for posting it Cheeba.

I love that this government propaganda is working against them. I recently got a flier from my school about marijuana. It was completely ludicrous. Here is just a sample some of the propaganda quotes
“all users fall short on memory as well as math and verbal skills.”
“animal studies have shown marijuana induced structural damage to portions of the brain essential to memory and learning.”
“Chronic marijuana smokers are prey to chest colds, bronchitis, emphysema, and bronchial asthma… and raise the risk of cancer.”
Listed under marijuana dangers was
Loss of motivation
Risk of AIDS and other STD’s [AHA HA HA!!!!!!! I could decide whether to laugh or cry when I first read this ]
Increased risk of cancer

I wanted to go to the school and ask that they not distribute this flier anymore, but school is over in a week, so I don’t feel like going through all the trouble of finding scientific evidence to counter these claims.

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"Those who do no harm to others should not be harmed by others..." Ethan Nadelmann
"Revolution is not a right, it is an obligation." John Locke
"Do SOMETHING besides argue emotions against the law, because it simply isn't a rational way to affect any type of change whatsoever. No offense intended, but your opinion on things is a moot point unless you take actions to change the law, rather than ramble about how unfair or injust it is." troublemaker_42
"'Just say no' to drugs, except those marketed by big pharmaceutical companies." Ignorant Politicians