Produced by the ad firm IPG Foote Cone & Belding (FCB), the campaign debuted with a 30-second TV spot titled "Awakenings," where a teen says, "There comes a time when you realize you're not a kid anymore. Suddenly you have to make decisions everyday . . . This is a time when you define yourself or let others define you." The campaign replaces the "My anti-drug" messages produced by WPP Group's Ogilvy & Mather.

The six new spots cost $25 million of ONDCP's $125 million budget for the anti-drug media campaign.

"We had an opportunity to make the whole concept of 'anti-drug' more aspirational and to figure out a way of taking the notion of drug use and putting it in the context of something teens could find motivating," said FCB executive Kim Corrigan. "This brand platform will stick with [teens] . . . because it is the kind of message that is more readily internalized when they are confronted with the choice of to smoke pot or not. It is more peer to peer and it feels more authentic."

Added FCB's Steve Schiller: "It is an accepted fact that people start drugs because someone turns them on to it. The world of influence can be the external pressure that brings you down or the internal pressure of wanting to be liked. This is all a response to influence."

Forthcoming ads also will focus on peer pressure and internal pressures, with images such as someone handing a beer to a teenager. "The campaign is intended to steer teens away from bad decisions," said ONDCP spokesperson Tom Riley. "And if teens also read into this that it is an anti-alcohol message, that doesn't hurt the anti-drug message."

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