First 5 Ads Draw Fire

LOS ANGELES Embroiled in charges that it created an illegally funded ad campaign for the First 5 California Children and Families Commission, Omnicom Group’s GMMB today referred queries to the client—a goverment body in Sacramento—which declined comment pending a state-run investigation.

Earlier this month, the child-development commission was accused by state legislators on both sides of aisle running an ad campaign for First 5 touting the lifelong advantages of preschool at the same time that First 5’s chairman—actor, director and political activist Rob Reiner—was trying to qualify a new ballot initiative, Proposition 82, for government-funded Universal Preschool for All in California.