Public Service Announcementsl
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Various groups in recent years have produced public service announcements to be run on television or in print-ad versions to encourage young people not to experiment with drugs. However, according to the CDC's Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System's report for 1997, nationwide 47.1 percent of students have used marijuana and one in ten of these students tried marijuana before they were thirteen year old. 8.2 percent had used some form of cocaine, 1.1 percent before their thirteenth birthday (Kann et al., 1998, 1). Drug initiation experiences can happen at a very young age are public service ads targeted at youth an effective detriment to drug use? These advertisements are costly, and their effectiveness is often questioned. The empirical data indeed suggests that they are not especially effective, any more than programs such as D.A.R.E. are really effective at preventing young people form using drugs. the evidence so far shows that peer pressure has a much greater influence than television advertising or even programs directed at the classroom as far as drug use is concerned. "Just Say No" was the slogan of a drug-free America supported by the President, Congress, and many businesses and parents. It was a media movement in reaction to the Do Your Own Thing 1960s attitudes where the attitude toward illegal drug use had become casual; but did this campaign really address the needs of young people faced with peer pressure challenges? Strasberger (1989) shows how a m
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bringing high school dropouts back to school. Smith finds that there is a pressing need for effective programs to change behavior given the toll taken each year by drug abuse, teenage pregnancies, and young people dropping out of school. There are four basic approaches to changing behavior--education, punishment, financial incentives, and treatment, with the latter being often the last resort. All work some of the time and none work all of the time. In all four cases, programs for the very young have the best results.
Smith (1991) examines the four approaches and considers their relative value, though his analysis shows that all have some value and none have such ascendancy that they should be considered the ultimate solution. Education does not take place automatically or in a vacuum, and schools often do not know what to teach or how to be effective in making the lesson stick. This is clear with reference to the problem of drug and alcohol abuse. Education takes place in the same atmosphere as peer pressure, which is far more potent for many people. Smith recognizes this and notes attempts to teach young people how to resist peer pressure.
Kelly (1995) reports on the many social marketing strategies in use today fo
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Approximate Word count = 1766
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)
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