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The drug czar's office must identify itself as the sponsor of public service announcements broadcast under the auspices of the White House anti-drug advertising campaign, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ruled on November 8. As a result of the ruling, broadcasters will be required to insert taglines reading "sponsored by the Office of National Drug Control Policy" on the spots now airing on TV and radio across the country.

Under federal law, public service announcements must identify the sponsor, but the Ad Council, which created many of the ads, had petitioned the agency to allow them to run without an identifying tagline. In its petition to the FCC, the Ad Council argued that such a required identification would interfere with the anti-drug message and may prompt some media companies to back away from the campaign. (It remains unclear just how requiring the identification would harm the message or frighten media companies.)

Ad Council President-CEO Peggy Conlon told Advertising Age Wednesday that the ruling was "outrageous" and charged it would "take away one of the most important tools that we have in keeping children off drugs." She also suggested the ruling conflicted with the congressional legislation creating the youth anti-drug ad campaign.

The FCC disagreed. "It is not the nature of the message conveyed in the broadcast material that determines whether an identification is required, but rather whether or not a station receives valuable consideration for broadcasting it," the FCC ruled.

The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) and the Media Awareness Project had challenged the Ad Council's request for an exemption. "This decision affirms that the Drug Czar's office must abide by the same federal laws as everyone else," said NORML Director Keith Stroup in a press release. "When an entity, particularly the federal government, purchases on-air time to persuade the public audience, the public has a legal right under the law to know that they are hearing or viewing content which has been paid for, and they also have a legal right to know who has paid for it. Just because that content is sponsored by the ONDCP under the guise of fighting the 'war on drugs' does not waive this federal requirement."

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