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adcouncil.org

Drop the F*Bomb

“Drop the F*Bomb”

Ad Council campaign announced 14 December 2022, made with Meta, that asks parents and caregivers to start candid conversations about fentanyl with their teen and young adult children. Creators filmed themselves 'dropping the F*Bomb' with their own kids; Meta added polls, an AR filter, an on-platform content hub and donated ad space, and DropTheFBomb.com gives facts and conversation tips. It was the parent-facing phase of the Ad Council's overdose effort that began with Real Deal on Fentanyl.

Years
2022
Country
United States
Topic
DrugsOpioids
Asks people to
RecognizeTalk to someone
Strategy
Self efficacyTrusted messenger
Channel
InfluencerSocial (organic)Social (paid)Website
Audience
Parents
Parents and caregivers of teens and young adults, including parents who do not expect their children to use drugs.

Evidence

Self-reportedUnknown

Meta, citing the Ad Council, said the campaign reached over 22 million people on Meta platforms in 2022. No outcome evaluation found.

Sponsor (who paid)

  • Ad Council Ad Council (pro bono), campaign producer
  • Meta Industry, funder, creative lead and donated media (Facebook, Instagram)

Credits (who made it)

Not recorded yet.

Executions (individual ads)

Related campaigns

Sources

  1. The Ad Council and Meta encourage parents to 'Drop the F*Bomb' with their kids in new campaign to address the fentanyl crisis (Ad Council, 14 Dec 2022) sponsor · 2022
  2. Our work to raise awareness of the dangers of fentanyl and help people who are impacted (Meta, 9 May 2023) sponsor · 2023
  3. Ad Council and leading tech companies team up on coordinated efforts to educate youth and parents on the dangers of fentanyl (Ad Council release via Shatterproof, 18 Oct 2022) sponsor · 2022
  4. DropTheFBomb.com About page (Wayback, Jun 2023) archive · 2023

Research notes

Discovered 2026-10-22 for #17. Credits checked 2026-10-22 against fetched pages: no outside agency is named; Meta says it 'led in the creative development' (Ad Council release and Meta newsroom), so Meta is listed as a sponsor, not a credit. Site status 2026-10-22: redirects (DropTheFBomb.com now goes to the generic adcouncil.org/our-causes page; campaign content retired); Wayback copy: https://web.archive.org/web/20230603235843/https://dropthefbomb.com/about. The PSAs sat on DropTheFBomb.com/about; no stable video URLs were found. Meta's May 2023 post says the Ad Council was 'continuing' the campaign on Fentanyl Awareness Day 2023; end date unknown. The 22 million reach figure is Ad Council data relayed by Meta; verify before quoting. Links (#82) checked 2026-10-23: Ad Council pages from the Wayback Machine (adcouncil.org's old campaign pages), the Our History timeline or its case studies; dead campaign sites point to a Wayback copy from the campaign years.

Record cases/ad-council-drop-the-f-bomb.json, updated 2026-10-23· Link to this campaign