Electronics retailer Circuit City has agreed to halt a drug-related promotion for the movie "Crank" after receiving complaints from the St. Louis affiliate of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD).

Movie buyers were enticed by Circuit City with the giveaway of a pen shaped liked a syringe, a marketing scheme that National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse/St. Louis Area spokesperson Dan Duncan said "trivializes the seriousness and often tragic aspects of drug addiction." The St. Louis group contacted Circuit City with its concerns after seeing an ad for the promo in a Jan. 6 newspaper; the chapter also involved the national office of NCADD in the complaint.
 
"The effort to address the devastating impact of alcoholism and addiction in this country is a responsibility we all share," wrote NCADD President Robert J. Lindsey to Circuit City executives. "I am asking Circuit City do its part by avoiding the promotion of irresponsible and dangerous behavior through the merchandise you choose to sell and how you market it… I respectfully ask that Circuit City remove the promotion from your website and your store shelves immediately."

A day later, Circuit City agreed to stop the promotion. "The main story in the movie concerns a character injected with a deadly poison, so the syringe imagery in the promotion refers to a major plot device … not to drug abuse in general," said Circuit City spokesperson Jim Babb. "That said, we recognize the syringe is a powerful and negative image in society and we acknowledge the promotional giveaway of a syringe-shaped ink pen with the DVD is in poor taste. We regret the mistake."