cannabisnews.com: Study: Anti-Pot Ads are Dopey Study: Anti-Pot Ads are Dopey Posted by CN Staff on May 27, 2005 at 19:24:31 PT By Greg Gatlin Source: Boston Herald USA -- Advertisements might work to warn young people off of cigarettes, but they're not buying it when it comes to anti-pot ads, a new study says. The research, commissioned by the Marijuana Policy Project, a group advocating pot decriminalization, says government-sponsored anti-marijuana ads aren't having the desired effect. In fact, Texas State University researchers who conducted the study say the ads might actually ``boomerang'' - producing the opposite effect. In the study, scientists had 123 Texas State University students watch both anti-pot and anti-tobacco ads. Ads included a spot showing teens getting high in a car at a fast-food drive-thru, then unwittingly driving into a young girl on a bike. Harvey Ginsberg, a Texas State University psychology professor and the study's senior author, said written responses from study participants were surprising. ``They wanted to know what kind of parents are letting a child ride on busy intersection unattended, and so forth,'' he said. But a spokesman for the Office of National Drug Control Policy dismissed the study as ``sloppy science bought and paid for by the pro-marijuana legalization lobby.'' Spokesman Rafael Lemaitre said college students aren't the target audience for his group's advertising. ``We're trying to reach younger viewers in their teens,'' Lemaitre said. ``We know if can reach that audience, we can prevent them from using drugs in the first place.'' Lemaitre added that ads are tested extensively on focus groups. He claimed spots have made ``a huge impact,'' pointing to an 18 percent drop in pot use over three years. But Ginsberg said the government is crediting its advertising for a trend already in progress. Both marijuana and tobacco use reached in the 1990s and have since been falling. Source: Boston Herald (MA)Author: Greg GatlinPublished: Friday, May 27, 2005Copyright: 2005 The Boston Herald, Inc.Website: http://www.bostonherald.com/Contact: letterstoeditor bostonherald.com Marijuana Policy Projecthttp://www.mpp.org/CannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #9 posted by FoM on June 01, 2005 at 07:58:43 PT Jose I have a request and an offer. I made this message forum that is on my http://www.freedomtoexhale.com front page. I haven't been able to develop it. Instead of posting off topic information on threads on CNews why don't you take this forum and make it whatever you want. You could post the link to the forum then for all those who are interested to read. I hope you consider my offer. I really would like to see this forum developed. CannabisNews Discussion Forum [ Post Comment ] Comment #8 posted by Hope on June 01, 2005 at 07:24:33 PT "the zombies still under their spell" Perhaps, on further consideration, I've figured out why so many people stay "under their spell".They are afraid. It's safer to do what tyrants say to do. Much safer. [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by jose melendez on June 01, 2005 at 06:44:42 PT Drug War: CRIME? Scientists blow whistle:http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A49502-2001Dec15¬Found=true [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by jose melendez on June 01, 2005 at 06:41:48 PT common denominator Pop quiz: What do these stories have in common?http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/archive/1873368.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4598419.stm - - -http://web.archive.org/web/20011217201704/www.iht.com/articles/41998.htm Drug War: Crime? [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by rchandar on June 01, 2005 at 06:18:13 PT: some of these ads are so stupid... ...that even stupid people would have more self-respect than buy the arguments in these commercials......i've seen a lot of bad anti-drug arguments in my life. One was the two ten-year old kids sharing bong hits while playing with a pistol; another was two ten year old girls speculatively looking at a ten-year old boy who was stoned (translation: sex at ten is good, dope is bad). another was so stupid it defies any common sense; two nerdy white parents trying a rap with their kid about how "marijuana can lead to prison" or something stupid like that! let's see, there are others; the very worst one was the "mom, dad, I hate you" ad where teenage kids reprimand their parents (never mind trivial things like love, attention, education, paying all the bills) for having experimented with drugs. Very much encouraging the nazistic notion that kids, empowered by the state, can turn their parents in for "crimes." I never saw anything so amoral run by this government.Well, you get the idea. Bad ONDCP ads, they flourish......rchandar [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by Hope on May 28, 2005 at 11:55:23 PT I can't say that it was just one horrifying incident that allowed me to break free of their power to delude. It took several loud intrusions to finally make me wake up and see the true horror of the situation and while I am extemely grateful to have broken free...I'm still horrified at the site of all the zombies still under their spell all around me, while the atrocities of the Drug War continue unabated. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by Hope on May 28, 2005 at 11:50:36 PT The Master Hypnotists are having a bit of a harder time keeping the masses in their trance, what with all the disturbing noises coming from the sounds of a missionary aircraft being blown out of the sky and young boys blown to bits to the tune of the report of high velocity military sniping rifles and swat riot shotguns in children's bedrooms. It's taken less for some of us to find the power of their trance induction shattered, other's can't be wakened even to the sound of airplanes hitting the jungle, doors being splintered, and shotgun blasts in the neighborhood. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by AOLBites on May 28, 2005 at 10:54:06 PT hmm.. all i know about propaganda is...if you are making a anti-drug commercial, an opening line of...'hey, break out that weed man' isn't the smartest idea =Pcause thats what everyone with any is gonna do. [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by jose melendez on May 28, 2005 at 06:06:11 PT Ads, youth use increases related Propaganda backfires http://www.drugwardistortions.org/distortion16.htm Schools urged to drop antidrug program http://www.factnet.org/discus/messages/3/6942.html?1109406389 Are Antidrug Ads Backfiring? http://cms.psychologytoday.com/articles/pto-20041112-000008.html [ Post Comment ] Post Comment