WASTEFUL SPENDING BY THE ONDCP MEDIA CAMPAIGN

N'SYNC takes money from the ONDCP

by Preston Peet-
Special to High Times News
FILED 08/01/2001

The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy has forged an $800,000 alliance with pop sensations N'SYNC as part of its National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign.

The multimillion-selling boy group N'SYNC is running a "What's Your Anti-Drug?" public-service announcement for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy on their Website, www.NSYNC.com, as well as during each show of their 45-date Celebrity 2001 tour this summer.

The ad features group members listing a variety of activities, such as "mind reading," "hand puppets," and more, telling viewers, "These are our anti-drugs. What's yours?" It's part of an $800,000 ad-buy deal worked out between Ogilvy and Mather , which manages the advertising component of the ONDCP's National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign, and MusicVision, (www.musicvision.com), an ad agency specializing in managing music Websites, including N'SYNC's.

The ONDCP's media campaign, now in Phase III, began in 1997, when Congress authorized up to $195 million a year for it for five years . For every dollar spent on advertising by the ONDCP, the organization that sells the ad space is supposed to donate a matching amount. This was meant by Congress to ensure the well-funded ONDCP ads do not supplant free ads already being produced by groups such as the Partnership for a Drug-Free America.

"The talent for the PSA was not paid and was not credited as part of the match. That was outside of the ad buy," carefully stressed Ann Saybolt of the Fleishman-Hillard public relations firm, the campaign's "outreach contractor." "That is sort of a standard thing for the ONDCP, that ONDCP doesn't pay for talent."

The $800,000 in taxpayers money paid to N'SYNC, she explains, "includes advertising on their Website, it includes all the features on their Website, it includes the antidrug micro site, all the banner advertising, the whole-page link to the antidrug micro site, and then the development and production. They completely produced that, all of that content online." The time spent by N'SYNC filming the 30-second spot, and their showing the PSA both online and at concerts, qualifies as the pro-bono match owed by Music Vision to the ONDCP.

Who the Hell Is Watching the Money?
The N'SYNC PSA was produced "from beginning to end," according to Saybolt, by Madison Avenue advertising giant Ogilvy, which was awarded the Phase III cost-reimbursement contract by the ONDCP three years ago, for a total value of $684 million.

Ogilvy has been under investigation by the Government Accounting Office for shady billing practices, (http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d0134t.pdf). On June 25, the GAO released yet another report, (http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d01623.pdf), noting the "US government disallowed $7.6 million out of $24.2 million in total labor costs billed by Ogilvy for the first 19 months of their involvement with the Campaign." This has been referred to the US Department of Justice for possible further action.

"We found that some of Ogilvy's labor charges to the government were not reliable, and included charges for time that its employees did not work on the contract. According to company officials, and an internal company e-mail, after revenue on the contract did not meet projections in the summer of 1999, certain Ogilvy managers instructed some employees to review and revise their time sheets," reads the June 25 GAO report. "Some Ogilvy employees told us that they initially did not record all their work on the ONDCP contract, and that they revised their time sheets to increase the number of hours that they claimed to have worked. However, some of the employees told us they did not work the amount of additional time that was added to their time sheets, or could not fully explain why they increased the number of hours billed to the ONDCP contract. Time sheets for other employees, (not those who changed their time sheets after certain Ogilvy managers instructed them to), also showed changes that increased the number of hours charged for the ONDCP work. However, some employees said they did not make those changes to their time sheets, nor could they explain who made the changes and why."

Not only did Ogilvy overcharge the government, but the ONDCP has been engaged in seriously lax management of the multimillion-dollar contract.

Is the Campaign Geared Towards Youth, or Congressional Drug-Warrior Moneymen?
"The goal is to surround teens with vital drug-use-prevention messages, provide adults with practical information to help them raise drug-free kids, and encourage accurate portrayal of drug issues in entertainment media so that pop culture does not perpetuate myths about drugs and drug use," reads the stated goals of the ONDCP's entertainment-outreach efforts for the campaign. "Well, I think that the message in the PSA is the antidrugs, the antidrugs listed in that spot, things that keep kids, that stand between kids and drugs, that keep kids interested, that they're passionate about," campaign publicist Saybolt stammers when asked if N'SYNC presenting mind reading, scary movies, tiddlywinks, and baroque minimalism to America's youth as "antidrugs" was an efficient way to combat drug use.

"A variety of celebrities have appeared in PSAs that support the goals of the Campaign and spoken publicly about Campaign themes and goals," says a press release Saybolt sent HT. "Youth and parents nationwide have heard celebrity voices from a range of entertainment genres."

While the Media Campaign continues valiantly trying to brainwash and behaviorally condition American youth , buying slick advertisements, with sports and pop-culture luminaries pushing the government prohibitionist line, ONDCP Acting Director Edward Jurith on May 31 quietly suspended the controversial practice of "paying TV networks for putting antidrug messages in popular TV shows," as reported by Dan Forbes in Salon on June 30.

As this only affects 20% or so of the Media Campaign's TV-ad budget, it is unclear what effect this will have on the FCC order of December 2000, in response to a complaint filed by NORML early that year, requiring the ONDCP to take credit for antidrug messages presented to the public. The FCC ruling is being appealed by the Ad Council, "which is responsible for designing advertising campaigns that publishers and broadcasters can choose from" for the Media Campaign, according to Ira Teinowitz of Ad Age. The Ad Council is alleging that if the government has to take credit for its antidrug ads, that will confuse the public and the intended target audience.

Countering the Propaganda
"It's not mind reading that's antidrug, it's mind control," notes HT columnist Paul Krassner. "It's disgusting propaganda. I guess the FCC's old equal-time rule doesn't apply any more, or we'd all get together to produce a powerful response. It won't affect anybody who's already getting stoned, and I suppose that includes a small portion of N'SYNC's audience. At least there are other venues of news and entertainment-plus peer-group communication-that give it some level of balance."

On that note, one couple in Bend, Oregon, Jeff Jarvis and Tracy Johnson, (www.jeffandtracy.com), both age 39, have taken their pro-pot message public by buying a $2,555 full-page ad, in the Willamette Week, a Portland, Oregon, alternative paper in the last week of June.

"We're Jeff and Tracy. We're your good neighbors. We smoke pot," reads the ad's headline in big bold letters, next to a photo of the couple. "Radio, public transportation, and now the press. Every one of these media accepts money from the ONDCP, from the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, and other organizations that promote and support the drug war. We applaud the Willamette Week's dedication to the American spirit. Thank you for printing our message." They had tried to buy ad space on local radio stations, public transportation, and in the Oregonian, Portland's leading paper, all of which turned them down.

"Those radio stations did us a great favor by rejecting our ad," Jarvis told DRCNet. "These are stations that are constantly joking about pot, but they wouldn't buy our ad. Now everyone wants to talk about it. One station said our ad would 'frighten mothers,' and this is a station that broadcasts the Howard Stern show!

"It just came down to deciding that we had had enough. We're pretty patient people, but we decided we had to step up to the plate. We're not really activists-I volunteered at the Portland NORML booth once in 1998-but we've been watching and seeing people do good things. The activists have laid the groundwork, but now I think we've reached critical mass and it is time for the average Joe to stand up and say 'yeah, we're here.' When more people stand up, it'll be over in the blink of an eye."

Asked for comment, N'SYNC's publicist told HT to contact the group's management, which did not return numerous calls. A spokesman at Ogilvy said he was not authorized to discuss the N'SYNC PSA, and the ONDCP would not speak to HT for this story.