Tobacco Documents Online

ADWEEK/EASTERN EDITION- A Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Smoking and Health that features 15-year-old Brooke Shields. - The effortTxq~'~-~L~nto~n ~. Frank, Chicago, is part of an anti-smoking cam- paign aimed at teenage girls. Three weeks ago, however, the government suddenly canceled the ad and supporting commer- cialS, vchich Were to ,ran as, ~ublie service announcements:,b..~'nning this month. ~in~e,the an~o~t¢:enAen~.that the haft'been dee~ed "an ina'l~p~opria.te spskes- woman for .the U.B. government," the American LungAssociation has tried to buy :rights to the adyertising package. Finally~ it was given the campaign free of charge. Initially~ the American Lung Association tried to~ sway the Office of Smoking and Health to continue with its plans to run the campaign, according to Richard Sinsheimer, Lung Association president. When persua- sion proved ineffective, he said, the Ameri- can Lung Association offered to purchase the rights to the campaign, run the spots, distribute the posters and place the newspa- per ads with its logo instead of the govern- ment logo. The controv~rsp-~pparently dame as a shock to the Clinton E. Frank agency. "No space has been bought, and there are no media buys to cancel," according to an agency spokesman, "because it's all psa (public service announcements)." Allegedly, the spokesman continued, "the . government felt the ads would not be effec- tive." But tests in Dallas-area high schools with the target audience of teenage girls proved highly effective, he said. According to a DHHS spokesman, the ads were can- celed because Shields had played the role of a child prostitute in the 1978 film, "Pretty Baby." The pieces depict Shields wearing a striped sweat~hirt and jeans with a eiga- - rette protruding from each ear and carry the caption, "It's what smoking does te your looks that kills me." Ironically, according to Bard Lindeman, director of communications for the Ameri- can Lung Associatlon, the Office of Smoking and Health approached the ALA months ago with the idea for the Brooke Shields anti-smoking campaign and asked for didn't like the water." According to Lindeman, the Office of Smoking and Health supervised every step of production of the campaign through Clin- ton E. ]~rank, and only after a recent review~.ttlmost two months after the cam- paign's complet~on~did it decide to scrap the effort. Isn't it a shame how bad she looks? "The American Lung Association will now distribute the materials," the agency spokesman said, adding that the agency will gladly work with the ALA. A spokesman at the ALA added, %Ve hope we will be working in tandem with Clinton E. Frank. They have said they would be delighted to work with us." The official stance of the Lung Association is that Shields ~is ~ good role m~.del and appeals to that s:ing~e population [of young women] which has shown the .only increase in the incidence of smoldng." Sinsheimer said, "She is influential with young Ameri- can women, who have the greatest and most alarming increase in cases of lung disease. We will get the films, posters and materials under our own labels." The Lung Association-was waitingfor "the d0nsent and clearancesfrom the gov~ ernment" and will now "present this cam- paign to the public as soon as possible,'" Sinsheimer said.. Speaking of the government's decision to cancel the campaign, he added, "It is partic- ularly strange and bizarre coming from a President who not always played the role of the good." --Michele Weldon 0084 TI05280051