Just Say Yes
Hair Dryer/Never
Easy , produced by Merkley Newman Harty for ABC TV's public-service
announcements.
ABC Television's anti-drug
crusade--March Against Drugs--has already been attacked in Slate as bogus propagandizing. Whatever the merits of the
campaign, which includes public-service announcements and "drug-education"
plugs in the network's dramas and sitcoms, this piece of advertising works.
Hair Dryer , the first part of this spot, uses a combination of laconism
and high production values to appeal to both parents and children. Never
Easy , the second, reverses field and feel with a talking head who, while
almost didactic in her delivery of a simple message and a not-so-subtle push
for ABC itself, is young enough, earnest enough, to strike a chord across her
audience.
Cobbling multiple cuts of
film into a snappy collage, the first 13 seconds seem to prepare you for a
hair-care pitch, not a drug advisory. But pace and contrast set up a complex
visual message before the first words are ever spoken. First the hair dryer,
then the clutter of a young girl's bathroom. The dryer blasting at a flipped
head of hair, then a mirrored glimpse of a soulful pout. A full-length view of
the girl, shot from behind in sharply faded color, then a less clearly
articulated close-up of her face. And then the eyes, lidded, strangely knowing,
lingering in the mirror.
There is a disquieting
dialogue at work here, the play of color capturing the tensions of the
chrysalis. Vibrant hues for prelapsarian innocence; bleached tones for the
budding adult. A switch to full color accompanies the first words, spoken in a
childlike voice-over: "It might not be easy to talk to kids today ...
especially about marijuana." As the words begin, the colors fade, drawing you
toward the obvious "it's hard to talk to kids today because kids are no longer
just kids" theme. But a fillip of clichés--the braces under the smile, the
self-conscious glance downward--brings the kid back for the moment. The spot
quickens--she's almost done with the dryer ... she's almost outta here.
The spot briefly reprises
the faded hues--the blond hair flashing gray, the lighting evoking a street
corner for a moment--before focusing on ringed fingers and thumb turning the
dryer off. The thumb ring, even more than the earrings that have been there all
along, taps fertile ground, its associations with rebellion and the
unwillingness to conform inevitable. From thumb rings to smoke rings wouldn't
be a long step, some would say--and the statistics show that for an increasing
number of teens, the smoke is coming from marijuana. But this one hasn't taken
that step--yet. She's standing stock-still for now, the voice that acknowledged
how difficult it was for parents to talk marijuana with kids now asking,
Camus-like: "But if you don't do it, who will?"
This is the best witness and
the most persuasive advocate: a kid, telling parents that their kids want and
need to hear from them. As the first half of the spot ends, we notice the
disclaimer crediting it to the Partnership for a Drug-Free America. The second
half--actually the last seven seconds--takes a radically different, entirely
linear approach, using a talking head: General Hospital 's Amber Tamblyn,
who plays the almost-but-not-quite-redoubtable Emily Bowen (whose drug
abuse--yes, indeed--"sparked shocking and tragic consequences" on GH
this week). Tamblyn reiterates that marijuana is a sticky wicket, then suggests
a way out--almost as a matter of course: Tune into ABC March 30, and "we'll
help." Research shows that parents today want that help, that they lack the
language to bridge the generation gap and persuade their teens not to do as
they did in the '60s and '70s. That's why this spot will probably succeed in
its effort to make parents tune in March 30.
The other message, of
course, is that ABC is au courant with the role of family values in
politics today, and that it cares enough to turn over prime time to the
anti-drug campaign. It has been estimated that ABC could lose as much as $1.7
million in March revenue just by running one 30-second public-service spot in
lieu of its paid commercial equivalent during the network's highest-priced hour
of time (Tuesdays from 9 to 10 p.m.). The ratings-pandering and
suspension-of-skepticism charges notwithstanding, the public is likely to give
ABC some credit.
The
contrast between the two parts of the ad shows why agencies are paid so much to
be creative--the talking head wouldn't have done quite as well opening the act.
The spot closes with a chyron urging parental action: "Silence is acceptance."
Ennui is exactly what activists complain about: They say the '90s have seen a
steep drop in the time and space donated to anti-drug messages, from $365
million to $260 million annually. Nancy Reagan's much derided "Just Say No"
seems to have had an effect on the kids it targeted--drug use actually went
down. This time, it's the parents who are being told they can make a
difference. The gauntlet's down, says ABC: Just Say Yes.
-- Robert
Shrum
