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National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign

Also: Above the Influence (later branding)

Congressionally funded campaign run by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, spending nearly $1 billion between 1998 and 2004 to prevent youth drug use, mostly marijuana. The Congressionally mandated independent evaluation found no favorable effects and some evidence of harm.

Years
1998–now
Country
United States
Budget
Nearly $1 billion, 1998-2004 (Hornik & Jacobsohn)
Topic
Drugs
Asks people to
Never startStopTalk to someone
Strategy
Fear appealSocial norms
Channel
PrintRadioSocial (paid)TV
Audience
ParentsYouth
Ages 9-18 and their parents

Evidence

Quasi-experimentalMixed

Three national cohorts surveyed four times, 1999-2004. Most analyses showed no effect. Greater ad exposure predicted weaker anti-drug norms and less intention to avoid marijuana at the next round, and exposure at round 3 predicted initiation at round 4. Authors: 'unlikely to have had favorable effects... may have had delayed unfavorable effects.' The 1998-2004 phase remains the harm finding above. A two-community time series found the 2002-2003 Marijuana Initiative reversed rising 30-day marijuana use among high-sensation-seeking teens, with no effect on others (Palmgreen 2007). For the Above the Influence era (2005 on), market-level ad weight linked to Monitoring the Future 2006-2008 was associated with lower past-month marijuana use among 8th-grade girls (AOR 0.67) but not boys or older grades (Carpenter 2011); self-reported ATI awareness was associated with stronger anti-drug beliefs (Scheier 2011, Slater 2011). A meta-evaluation judged the 1998-2004 campaign probably ineffective but the harm evidence insufficient (Magura 2012).

Sponsor (who paid)

  • Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) Federal government, funder
  • Partnership for a Drug-Free America NGO, creative partner

Credits (who made it)

Related campaigns

Sources

  1. Hornik R et al. Effects of the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign on youths. Am J Public Health 2008;98(12):2229-36 evaluation · 2008 · DOI 10.2105/AJPH.2007.125849 · PMID 18923126
  2. Hornik R, Jacobsohn L. The best laid plans: disappointments of the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign. LDI Issue Brief 14(2) evaluation · PMID 19288618
  3. Slater MD et al. Assessing media campaigns linking marijuana non-use with autonomy and aspirations: "Be Under Your Own Influence" and ONDCP's "Above the Influence". Prev Sci 2011 evaluation · 2011 · DOI 10.1007/s11121-010-0194-1 · PMID 21271357
  4. Carpenter CS et al. Exposure to the Above the Influence antidrug advertisements and adolescent marijuana use in the United States, 2006-2008. Am J Public Health 2011 evaluation · 2011 · DOI 10.2105/ajph.2010.300040 · PMID 21421952
  5. Scheier LM et al. An empirical assessment of the Above the Influence advertising campaign. J Drug Educ 2011 evaluation · 2011 · DOI 10.2190/de.41.4.f · PMID 22455104
  6. Evans WD et al. Effects of the above the influence brand on adolescent drug use prevention normative beliefs. J Health Commun 2014 evaluation · 2014 · DOI 10.1080/10810730.2013.837559 · PMID 24499473
  7. Palmgreen P et al. Effects of the Office of National Drug Control Policy's Marijuana Initiative Campaign on high-sensation-seeking adolescents. Am J Public Health 2007 evaluation · 2007 · DOI 10.2105/ajph.2005.072843 · PMID 17395843
  8. Magura S. Failure of intervention or failure of evaluation: a meta-evaluation of the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign Evaluation. Subst Use Misuse 2012 evaluation · 2012 · DOI 10.3109/10826084.2012.705706 · PMID 23186426
  9. Fishbein M et al. Avoiding the boomerang: testing the relative effectiveness of antidrug public service announcements before a national campaign. Am J Public Health 2002;92(2):238-45 evaluation · 2002 · DOI 10.2105/ajph.92.2.238 · PMID 11818299

Research notes

The anchor case for pre-registration: large budget, independent evaluation, null-to-harmful result. A likely mechanism is that saturation messaging signaled 'everyone is doing it'. Credits checked 2026-10-22 against fetched pages: Fleishman-Hillard (GAO-05-175, read via Wayback: prime contractor for public communications and outreach, fiscal years 2002-2004); Ogilvy & Mather (GAO-01-1017T: HHS awarded the Phase III advertising contract to Ogilvy in December 1998, performance from January 1999, a base year plus 4 option years worth an estimated $684 million; GAO-05-175: Ogilvy was 'responsible for managing the creative development and production of advertising', with tasks including media planning, placement and purchase, advertising research and review, through FY2004); Draftfcb (ONDCP release: 'advertising agency Draftfcb created the Above the Influence brand in 2005'). Corrected 2026-10-22: Ogilvy role changed from creative to media and years from '1998-1999 lead contractor' to 1999-2004; the spots themselves came largely from Partnership for a Drug-Free America volunteer agencies, while Ogilvy managed development, research and the paid media buy. Source switched to GAO-05-175, which states the role. Confirm end year of federal funding. Further credits checked 2026-10-22 against fetched pages: Westat (GAO, read via Wayback: 'Westat, Inc., completed a multiyear national evaluation'), Fleishman-Hillard (Youth Today, Jan 2000: 'a five-year, $48 million contract for a "non-advertising campaign" with Fleishman-Hillard'). Corrected 2026-10-22: Fleishman-Hillard years widened from 2002-2004 to 1999-2004 and sourced to Youth Today; GAO-05-175 covers only FY2002-2004 (about $27M). Slater 2011 (self-reported Above the Influence exposure predicted less marijuana use) added as a source; findings not yet folded into evidence. Evidence updated 2026-10-22: outcome harmful -> mixed, because this record covers both phases (Above the Influence is listed as its later branding and Draftfcb's 2005 ATI credit is here). The independent 1998-2004 evaluation's possible-harm finding is not overwritten: it stays first in findings. ATI-era studies show favorable associations in subgroups only and are weaker designs than the Westat/Annenberg cohorts. If ATI is split into its own case, restore this record to harmful. Reuse terms checked 2026-10-23 by an AI research pass for #47; not yet reviewed by a person.

Record cases/national-youth-anti-drug-media-campaign.json, updated 2026-10-23· Link to this campaign