Planning and Initiation of the ONDCP National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign

An alarming upsurge in substance use among American youth in the past decade prompted the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) to organize the multifaceted, primary prevention National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign. The campaign focuses on adolescents (especially ages 11-13 years), but also targets adolescents' parents and other influential adults. The campaign's main goal is to educate and enable American youth to reject illegal drugs. The purpose of this article is to describe the origin of campaign objectives, processes for the development of specific advertising messages to fulfill these objectives, and how the ONDCP experience could provide a model for other health-oriented media campaigns.