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Ad council launches anti gay bullying campaign July 22 2007 By the end of 2007, the 60-year-old nonprofit Ad Council will launch its first ever public service announcement with a gay message by teaming with GLSEN, the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network, to combat anti-gay language and harassment in schools. The Ad Council has popularized many slogans over the decades, including the World War II message "Loose Lips Sink Ships" and Smokey the Bear, who declared "Only you can prevent forest fires" (both in the 1940s), the United Negro College Fund campaign's "A mind is a terrible thing to waste" in the 1970s, and the 1980s effort "Friends don't let friends drive drunk." It has also introduced iconic characters including the crying American Indian for Keep America Beautiful, McGruff the Crime Dog who began taking "A bit out of crime" in the 1970s, and the Crash Test Dummies to encourage safety belt usage in the 1980s. From offices in New York and Washington, D.C., the Ad Council pairs nonprofit organizations with ad agencies that volunteer to create public service advertising about common major problems, then works with major media outlets to commit to running the ads for free. While it is the Ad Council's first time addressing a gay community issue, GLSEN and other gay advocacy organizations have created several of their own PSA campaigns in recent years. In 1999, GLSEN partnered with MTV Network to run a campaign addressing anti-gay language in youth that featured the mother of slain youth Matthew Shepard. New York City-based GLSEN, which was founded as a local group in 1990 and went national in 1995, helped start a national phenomenon of gay-straight alliances in schools and was created to support students and teachers around gay issues. In initial research to identify their target audience for the new anti-bullying ad campaign, GLSEN and the Ad Council found that 50 percent of 13-year-olds call themselves "neutral" on LGBT issues and 34 percent call themselves "supporters," while 13 percent "don't like LGBT people," says GLSEN spokesman Anthony Ramos. "We're targeting 13-year-olds who identify as 'neutral' on LGBT issues." Ramos says language like 'That's so gay!' is widespread in schools, and that 89.2 percent of students reported hearing the phrase frequently. "Our campaign will be hard hitting and create discomfort around that." An early survey of TV networks by the Ad Council found that 50 percent of them said they would be open to carrying the future campaign. "It was what we expected," says Ramos, "Top markets were more open than smaller ones. We knew we wouldn't have as much reach as a drug campaign or one for forest fires." Details of the creative approach are still being planned. GLSEN and the Ad Council are working with ad agency Geppetto Group, New York, for focus group testing and creative. But realizing that youth are spending less time with TV and more time online, the anti-bullying campaign is expected to have an important online component, with video for YouTube, MySpace and other social networking sites. The Ad Council previously used the McGruff animated dog in a general youth bullying campaign in 2004 from Saatchi & Saatchi, targeting children ages 7 to 10, for the National Crime Prevention Council. Youth have increasingly been targets of hard-hitting advertising PSAs in general, by groups such as the Partnership for a Drug-Free America's "This is your brain on drugs" campaign and the "Truth" anti-smoking effort. MTV Network also frequently creates campaigns encouraging youth to vote and practice safe sex -- messages rarely seen on other networks. To work with the Ad Council, nonprofit organizations must submit an application and raise $1.6 million to cover production costs by the ad agency and Ad Council, though all media is donated by media outlets who carry campaigns. GLSEN reached its goal for raising the financial commitment from supporters last December. An Ad Council spokesman says the agency doesn't comment on any campaigns in advance of their introduction, and declined to provide a statement about addressing gay issues for the first time. According to Ramos, the organization was intrigued by GLSEN's January 2006 application, which was approved in September. "They were interested in an edgy campaign that targets teens," he says. GLSEN's initial three-year Ad Council relationship includes a year to conceive and produce the campaign, then two years for running it, with the cost spread across the three-year period. If things go well, the campaign could be extended or updated. Ramos notes that changing how people use language won't be easy. "We're trying to change behaviors over years, not overnight. This is just laying the groundwork." For more information on GLSEN you can go to their website Related links: egale, pflag canada |