MUSEUM OF TELEVISION & RADIO SEMINAR SERIES, THE: ADVERTISING COUNCIL: PRESENT AT THE CREATION {LONG VERSION}
Summary
One in this series of seminars conducted by The Museum of Television & Radio. This is the second of two seminars co-hosted by the Advertising Council, and held in conjunction with the exhibition "A Half Century of Public Service: A Retrospective of Advertising Council Campaigns," which explore how the advertising industry responds to social causes through the mechanism of the Council. This seminar focuses on the Ad Council's campaign for the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), created and produced in conjunction with the Della Femina McNamee advertising agency. Susan Fisher, Museum vice president, introduces the seminar's moderator Jack Bowen, chairman emeritus of DMB&B Worldwide, who presents a highlight reel of Ad Council advertisements from the 1940s through the 1990s. At the end of this reel, Ruth Wooden, president of the Ad Council, introduces three of the television spots produced for NIDA in 1990 ("Ocean," "Car," and "Roof") which deal frankly with drug and alcohol use, sexual activity, and the potential for the transmission of AIDS among teenagers. After the highlight reels, Bowen introduces the following panelists: Avram Foreman, deputy chief of the Community and Professional Education Branch of NIDA; Mike Chaney, vice president and account supervisor, Della Femina McNamee, Inc.; Richard Roth, executive vice president and creative director, Della Femina McNamee, Inc.; Victor Galef, senior vice president of marketing, SEI Corporation; and Bob Schultz, senior vice president of the Ad Council. The discussion, largely driven by Bowen's remarks to the panelists, covers the following topics: Foreman outlines the needs NIDA wanted to address with this particular campaign; Schultz explains how the Ad Council chooses its clients; Chaney and Galef recall how they became involved with this campaign; Bowen comments on the procedures involved in presenting ideas to the Ad Council; Chaney and Schultz talk about handling the controversial issues involved with this campaign; Galef and Roth discuss how Roth came to the project; Foreman talks about the reaction of NIDA's overseers, the Department of Health and Human Services, to the controversial campaign; Chaney and Roth remark on reactions to the campaign from its target audience of teenagers, and the directors approached to create the spots; Roth talks about Martin Scorsese's and Spike Lee's involvement in campaign. Next, Roth introduces "Horror Show," the campaign's movie theater commercial. Chaney talks about the filming of "Horror Show" and studios' reactions to requests for film clips, and Foreman and Schultz discuss different ways in which the success of the campaign has been measured. Bowen summarizes the themes of the preceding discussion; then opens the discussion to audience participation. Questions from the audience include the following: whether beer advertisers have taken notice of the campaign and whether it has affected their own campaigns; whether there is another phase of the NIDA campaign; if there's evidence of a change in behavior one year after the campaign first aired; if the tone of the ads is a reflection of pre-production research; and what other media can be used in conjunction with this campaign; in what time slots are these ads run; is there is a difference in the ads' impact on girls, to whom they seem to speak; and what is NIDA's hoped for scenario. Fisher asks about the levels of enthusiasm for professionals involved with public service versus commercial campaigns, and Bowen wraps up the discussion with more remarks about creative people preferring to work on public service campaigns.
Details
- NETWORK: N/A
- DATE: January 16, 1992 6:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:28:15
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:23513
- GENRE: Seminars
- SUBJECT HEADING: N/A
- SERIES RUN: N/A
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Susan Fisher … Host
- Jack Bowen … Moderator
- Mike Chaney … Panelist
- Avram Foreman … Panelist
- Victor Galef … Panelist
- Richard Roth … Panelist
- Bob Schultz … Panelist
- Spike Lee
- Martin Scorsese
- Ruth Wooden