ONDCP to Intro ‘Dealer’ on Super Bowl

NEW YORK The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy is placing a “Drug Dealer” on the Super Bowl.

The 30-second commercial set to run during the Feb. 3 Fox telecast introduces a hustler feeling the pinch because more young people are getting high from the pills in their parents’ medicine cabinets.

The dealer stalks about in the shadows of a convenience store lamenting his predicament: “Seems like half my customers don’t need me anymore. They’re getting high for free.”

The spot, slated to appear during the game’s first half, kicks off a new ONDCP campaign from Interpublic Group’s DraftFCB.

“There’s a dangerous drug risk to our teens that is off our radar, yet under our nose,” said Keith Ross, a cd at the New York shop.

Other elements of the campaign include two open letters in major newspapers across the country. One is addressed to parents and offers tips on safeguarding drugs in the home while the other will be aimed at health and school professionals.

Two print ads depict the medicine cabinet as the new drug dealer, with one showing a cabinet in a police lineup.

“[Prescription painkiller]…abuse is becoming a serious public health and addiction problem. We may be unintentionally providing our teens a new way to get high,” said John P. Walters, director, ONDCP, in a statement. “Most teens who abuse prescription drugs say they get them from home, or from friends and relatives. We need parents to recognize that not all drug threats to their teens come from the street corner.”

The ONDCP was last in the Super Bowl in 2004 with an ad called “Rewind” that depicted a ravaged teenager at the end of a night of drinking and pot smoking. DraftFCB also produced that spot.

The client spent more than $70 million in domestic measured media last year, per Nielsen Monitor-Plus.