The Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA), in conjunction with the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, sees advertising and PR as a means to tackle teenage abuse of prescription and over-the-counter drugs like cough medicine (dextromethorphan).
This effort came out of a long-time relationship between the Partnership and CHPA, and follows some sobering results from the Partnership's annual Attitude Tracking Study, which found that about 4.5 million teens report abusing prescription medication and 2.4 million report using cough medicine to get high. Elizabeth Assey, the CHPA's communications director, said the goal is "educating parents that this behavior is out there and this potential for abuse exists."
Idea: CHPA is looking to provide parents with the tools to combat teenage abuse of cough medicines. Assey says, "Parents who talk to their kids about drug abuse are half as likely to have kids who abuse."
Tools: Through the Partnership, CHPA is launching a national, research-based media campaign consisting of TV, radio, and print PSAs. An educational brochure, Preventing Teen Cough Medicine Abuse, will be available to parents in both English and Spanish. The campaign will also target teens with a Web site that has peer-to-peer testimonials, educating teens about the danger of abuse.
Measurement: The yearly Partnership study tracks the problem. The CHPA will monitor the traffic on both the parent and teen Web sites, as well as track the exposure to the PSAs.
Company: The Consumer Healthcare Products Assoc. and Partnership for a Drug-Free America
Campaign: Rx and OTC Medicine Abuse Ed. Campaign
PR Team: GCI and the internal team from the Partnership
Other marketing: Media outreach
Launching: May 16, 2006
Budget: Over $1 million