Montana Meth Project ('Not Even Once')

adsoftheworld.com

Also: Meth Project · Not Even Once

“Not Even Once.”

Privately funded anti-methamphetamine campaign launched in Montana in 2005 by software entrepreneur Thomas Siebel. Graphic TV, radio, print and outdoor ads, made by Venables Bell & Partners, showed teen meth users stealing from family, prostituting themselves and dying, under the line 'Not Even Once'. The model spread to other states (Arizona, Idaho, Illinois and others) as the Meth Project. It is one of the most saturating youth drug campaigns on record and one of the most disputed: the sponsor credited it with large drops in teen meth use, while independent analyses found the decline predated it.

Years: 2005
Country: United States
Topic: Drugs Opioids
Asks people to: Never start
Strategy: Fear appeal
Channel: Outdoor Print Radio TV Website
Audience: Parents Youth
Montana teens aged about 12-17, with secondary messages to parents; ads ran at saturation levels (SSIR reports reach of 70-90% of the state's teens several times a week).

Evidence

Quasi-experimentalNo effect

Anderson (2010, J Health Econ) used Youth Risk Behavior Survey data with difference-in-differences against states without the campaign: meth use fell after launch, but once the pre-existing downward trend was accounted for, effects were small and statistically indistinguishable from zero; treatment-admission data also showed no discernible effect. Erceg-Hurn (2008, Prevention Science) reviewed the project's own surveys and found meth use had been falling for at least six years before launch, launch coincided with limits on pseudoephedrine sales, and after six months of ads more teens rated meth use as not risky. The sponsor disputed both and cited its own surveys and a 53% fall in meth-related crime reported by the state attorney general (self-reported, uncontrolled).

Sponsor (who paid)

Montana Meth Project (Thomas M. Siebel) Foundation, funder and creator
Montana Opioid Abatement Trust (opioid settlement funds) Settlement funded, funder (2024 fentanyl prevention grant)

Credits (who made it)

Venables Bell & Partners Creative, 2005-2010 source

Executions (individual ads)

Print: Hallucinations, Hookup, Lipstick, Bathroom and others 2007 · print
TV: Sister, Shadow, OD, Family, Sex, Death, Bugs, Beating 2008 · tv

Sources

Does information matter? The effect of the Meth Project on meth use among youths (Anderson, Journal of Health Economics) evaluation · 2010 · DOI 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2010.06.005 · PMID 20638737
Drugs, money, and graphic ads: a critical review of the Montana Meth Project (Erceg-Hurn, Prevention Science) evaluation · 2008 · DOI 10.1007/s11121-008-0098-5
Review of graphic anti-meth campaign finds negative outcomes (ScienceDaily, on Erceg-Hurn 2008) news · 2008
Unselling Meth (Stanford Social Innovation Review) news · 2007
Shock Tactics: Montana's Meth Project Ads (NPR, via WRVO) news · 2006
Montana Meth Project TV campaign, Venables Bell & Partners (Ads of the World) archive · 2008
Montana Opioid Abatement Trust grants, September 2024 (Legislative Fiscal Division) sponsor · 2024
Montana organization announces campaign against fentanyl use (KPAX) news · 2025
Richards AS. Predicting attitude toward methamphetamine use: the role of antidrug campaign exposure and conversations about meth in Montana. Health Commun 2014 evaluation · 2014 · DOI 10.1080/10410236.2012.728469 · PMID 23448547
Montana Meth Project (site) sponsor · 2026

Research notes

Created 2026-10-22 from fetched pages (Ads of the World, SSIR, NPR/WRVO, PMC, ScienceDaily); Erceg-Hurn DOI checked against Crossref. End year and the later national Meth Project organization's fate not researched. Darren Aronofsky directed 2007 spots per AdForum credits (search result only; AdForum blocked fetches). Added 2026-10-22: the 2024 Montana Opioid Abatement Trust grant list shows Montana Meth Project 'FENTANYL Prevention, Education & Outreach', $400,000, prevention, all regions (settlement-funded fentanyl extension). KPAX (2025): campaign against fentanyl with Red Ribbon (#NotEvenOnce, #OnePillCanKill pact; fentanyl lesson added to Red Ribbon materials; 'in the last two years, they have added opioids, especially fentanyl'). The fentanyl work may merit its own record. Evaluation sources added 2026-10-22 (citation snowballing / helpline pass): Richards 2014; evidence level and outcome unchanged. Site https://montanameth.org/ live 2026-10-22 (meth and fentanyl prevention lessons, Paint the State, Red Ribbon Week).

Record cases/montana-meth-project.json, updated 2026-10-22· Link to this campaign