Former BYU advertising students and BYU faculty received statewide media attention Wednesday, June 30, when "Scan Me," an advertising campaign written and produced by BYU students was unveiled for the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign.

Students, faculty, administrators and members of the press filled the chairs and even lined the balconies and stairways to ensure a good view of the unveiling.

"This [advertising campaign] is here because it was the best creative work that we had among some of the best advertising agencies throughout the country," said John Walters, director of the Office of National Drug Control and Policy.

Walters was joined by Sen. Orrin Hatch and Congressman Chris Cannon at a news conference in the Harris Fine Arts Center gallery where the "Scan Me" campaign was introduced to the public. Walters presented a certificate of appreciation to BYU's Department of Communications and thanked the people involved with the campaign for applying their creative talents toward the betterment of youth.

"If I've learned a lesson from this anti-drug campaign it's this one thing: do your homework," Michael Richardson, writer of the advertisements said.

As an advertising student at BYU, Richardson originally wrote the advertisements as a homework assignment for a real-life advertising situation introduced to BYU students through Ogilvy and Mather, a New York-based advertising agency.

This campaign caught the eye of the advertising professionals who passed it on to ONDCP. After rigorous testing through focus groups, Richardson's homework assignment turned into a national advertising campaign to help youth see the strength within them to make good choices.

The campaign was produced by BYU students for $10,000 using endowed funds, but would have cost professionals $600,000, said Doug McKinlay, associate professor of advertising and marketing.

The print ads have already started to appear in national magazines targeted at teenagers, and the commercials will begin airing in a few weeks.

"I think that it is a really motivating thing," said Sarah Porter, a pre-communications student from Ogden. "It gives hope."

McKinlay said he believes this experience will have a profound influence on current and future advertising students at BYU.

"We are at another level now," said McKinlay. "We're out of obscurity. We took the bushel off the candle and now we are poised and ready."

Some EFY participants saw the print ads from the "Scan Me" campaign and agreed that they were advertisements that made them think. Wow was the first word to escape from the lips of Travis Draper, 16, after looking at the "Scan Me" print ad.

"It is a pretty good ad," Trent Leinenbach, 16, said. "It does a good job of getting rid of the stereotype of teenagers...that kids that look like this do drugs. I think it is a pretty effective ad."



Copyright Brigham Young University 1 Jul 2004