"The Ad Council"..

[santahog]

Is anybody besides me way past tired of hearing one or two of their commercials at every bread on radio or television?
Are they more than a shell company, designed to hide government/nanny-state fingerprints?

http://www.adcouncil.org/

(So okay. The Feed the Pig spots may actually serve a purpose, only because school longer teaches how to balance a checkbook..)

[alfsauve]

Their history:

The idea for the Ad Council was born in November 1941. Days later, with the entry of the U.S. into World War II, we were christened The War Advertising Council and soon created a campaign to sell War Bonds. More than sixty years and hundreds of campaigns later, the Ad Council remains America's leading producer of public service communications.

That's a long way of saying, propaganda, isn't it?


I think basically the Ad Council is a way for the advertising industry to justify that it has some social redeeming qualities and to keep regulators off their back.

[tombogan03884]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_Council

Famous campaigns

    Savings Bond (1942 - 1980) The first campaign by the then War Advertising Council encouraged Americans to support the war effort by purchasing war bonds.[16]
    Security of War Information - Loose Lips Sink Ships (1942 - 1945) The first campaign by the then War Advertising Council encouraged Americans to support the war effort by purchasing war bonds.[16]
    Wildfire Prevention (1944–present) The Ad Council’s longest running campaign, Smokey Bear and his tagline, "Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires," was created in 1944[6] to educate Americans about the harm wildfires could cause the war effort, and the danger that the Japanese might deliberately start forest fires by shelling the West Coast of the United States. It was 1947 when the iconic Smokey Bear phrase was finally coined: "Remember...only YOU can prevent forest/wild fires!"[17] The Forest Fire Prevention campaign has helped reduce the number of acres lost annually to wildfire from 22 million to 8.4 million (in 2000).[16]
    Vas006661.jpg
    American Red Cross (1945 - 1996) The Ad Council PSAs for the American Red Cross has recruited blood donors, enlisted volunteers, and raised funds for the Red Cross for more than 50 years.[16]
    Polio (1958 - 1961) PSAs for the polio vaccine helped get 80% of the at-risk populace fully immunized, eradicating the disease in the USA.[16]
    "Crying Indian" (1961 - 1983) anti-pollution campaign for Keep America Beautiful. The iconic “Crying Indian” ad, which featured Native American actor Iron Eyes Cody, first aired on Earth Day in 1971.[16] The campaign helped reduce litter by as much as 88 percent by 1983 [2] and won two Clio Awards.[18]
    People Start Pollution - 1971 Ad.jpg
    Peace Corps (1961 - 1991) PSAs featuring the tagline "The Toughest Job You'll Ever Love" helped recruit thousands of volunteers to the program. In 1991, 30 percent of Peace Corps volunteers had been reached through the Ad Council's recruitment campaign.[19]
    United Negro College Fund (1972–present) campaign, with its slogan "A mind is a terrible thing to waste," has helped raise more than $2.2 billion and helped to graduate more than 400,000 minority students from college or beyond.[6]
    McGruff (1979–present) campaign, with its slogan "Take a bite out of crime" for the National Crime Prevention Council (in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Justice). It was created in 1978.[6]
    Drunk Driving Prevention (1983–present) Intended to reduce the number of DUI accidents and alcohol-related fatalities, this campaign with the U.S. Department of Transportation has featured the taglines: "Drinking & Driving Can Kill A Friendship," "Friends Don't Let Friends Drive Drunk" and “Buzzed Driving is Drunk Driving.”[20]
    Vince and Larry, the Crash Test Dummies (1985 – present)[6] a campaign about safety belts. Since the introduction of this campaign, safety belt usage has increased from 14% to 79%, saving an estimated 85,000 lives, and $3.2 billion in costs to society.[16]
    Dummies.jpg
    AIDS Prevention (1988 - 1990) This Ad Council ad campaign was the first to use the word "condom" in America. The PSAs informed Americans of the dangers of the HIV and encouraged them to "Help stop AIDS. Use a condom."[16]
    Domestic Violence (1994–present) The PSAs encourage people to get involved in efforts to prevent domestic violence and to intervene if they know someone in an abusive relationship. In the first year of the campaign, more than 34,000 calls were made to the Family Violence Prevention hotline.[21]
    I am an American (2001–present) a campaign launched in wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks emphasizing the diversity of America. The ad features people of many ethnicities looking in the camera and simply saying "I am an American". A slightly updated version of the ad was shown in 2011, during the 10th anniversary of the attacks.
    Adoption from Foster Care (2004–present) This campaign delivers the message that “You don’t have to be perfect to be a perfect parent.” Since the beginning of the campaign, more than 14,000 families have registered to adopt kids through the campaign website AdoptUSKids.org.
    Autism Awareness (2006–present) The PSAs encourage parents to visit autismspeaks.org/signs to learn the signs of autism and to find out about early intervention. The campaign won an Effie Award for advertising effectiveness in 2008, a Silver Telly in 2009, a Silver Addy and Gold Ogilvy in 2011.[22]
    Gay and Lesbian Bullying Prevention (2008–present) GLSEN and Ad Council launched the first campaign to address anti-gay language among teens. PSAs feature celebrities such as Wanda Sykes, Grant Hill and Hilary Duff and ask kids to stop using homophobic language such as “That’s so gay.”[23]
    Fatherhood Involvement (2008–present) PSAs featuring the tagline "Take time to be a dad today" encourage fathers to play an active role in their children's lives. The campaign’s “Cheerleader” PSA is one of the Ad Council’s most popular PSAs and has earned $9.7 million in donated media since 2008.[24]
    FWD campaign with USAID (2011–present) In September 2011, Ad Council and USAID launched the FWD campaign to spread awareness about famine, war and drought in the Horn of Africa. The initiative garnered the participation of celebrities like Uma Thurman, Geena Davis, Josh Hartnett, Chanel Iman and Anthony Bourdain who starred in Public Service Announcements that asked the public to "forward the facts" about the crisis.[25]

The "We Can Do It!" poster was used by the Ad Council for its 70th anniversary celebration, through a Facebook app called "Rosify Yourself." However, the historic image was not produced by the War Advertising Council.

The Ad Council claimed the 1943 "We Can Do It!" poster (associated with Rosie the Riveter after 1982) was developed by the WAC as part of its "Women in War Jobs" campaign.[6][26] In February 2012 during the Ad Council's 70th anniversary celebration, an interactive application designed by Animax's HelpsGood digital agency was linked to the Ad Council's Facebook page. The Facebook app was called "Rosify Yourself" and it allowed viewers to upload images of their faces to be incorporated into the "We Can Do It!" poster, then saved to be shared with friends. Ad Council President and CEO Peggy Conlon posted her own "Rosified" face on Huffington Post in an article about the Ad Council's past 70 years of public service.[27] The staff of the TV show Today posted two "Rosified" images on their website, using the faces of news anchors Matt Lauer and Ann Curry.[28] However, the now-famous poster was actually produced by an internal Westinghouse corporate program as part of a series of posters shown to Westinghouse employees for two weeks then discarded. It was not produced by the Ad Council nor was it used for recruiting women workers.[29]
Organizations with campaigns done by the Ad Council

    AARP
    Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
    American Cancer Society
    American Foundation for AIDS Research
    American Heart Association
    American Red Cross
    AmeriCorps VISTA
    Autism Speaks
    Bedsider
    Big Brothers Big Sisters of America
    Dollar General Literacy Foundation
    Family Violence Prevention Fund
    Give Kids The World Village
    The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation
    Keep America Beautiful
    National AIDS Network
    National Crime Prevention Council
    Peace Corps
    Save the Children
    United Negro College Fund
    United States Army
    United States Department of Agriculture
    United States Department of Health and Human Services
    United States Department of Justice
    United States Department of Transportation
    United States Olympic Committee
    USA Freedom Corps
    WIC (Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children)

Controversy

Radio show host/Comedian Adam Carolla has many times taken umbrage with the Ad Council on both his show, The Adam Carolla Show and Loveline, stating that they do not provide any value, and that the topics they choose to provide statements on are not real issues that affect Americans, such as airplane turbulence, or are issues that an ad on public radio could not possibly do anything about, such as housing discrimination. Furthermore, Carolla has stated that this valuable time taken up could be used to enlighten Americans on topics such as teen pregnancy and options, or illiteracy, topics that have a much more significant impact on society.[33]

Given the Ad Council's historically close collaboration with the President of the United States and the federal government, it has been labeled by Robert Griffith as "little more than a domestic propaganda arm of the federal government."[34]

The Ad Council has been further criticized for distracting the public by focusing on individual lifestyle changes, rather than on the need to fix social problems by changing institutions, such as the Ad Council's many corporate sponsors, or the government and military, whose campaigns the Ad Council has also promoted.[35]

Ad Council spots are used to fill unsold air time by stations and networks. Controversial programming, such as Rush Limbaugh's radio show, have unsold air time which are filled with program promos, station plugs and PSAs including Ad Council PSAs. Activists not familiar with the Ad Council's business model have complained to the Ad Council and the subjects of Ad Council PSAs. This led the Ad Council to state that the subjects of Ad Council spots have no control over where those spots air.[36] One of the organizations with Ad Council spots, the AARP, has issued a similar statement.[37]

[alfsauve]

Ad Council spots are used to fill unsold air time by stations and networks. Controversial programming, such as Rush Limbaugh's radio show, have unsold air time which are filled with program promos, station plugs and PSAs including Ad Council PSAs. Activists not familiar with the Ad Council's business model have complained to the Ad Council and the subjects of Ad Council PSAs. This led the Ad Council to state that the subjects of Ad Council spots have no control over where those spots air.[36] One of the organizations with Ad Council spots, the AARP, has issued a similar statement.[37]

Stations get credits for running PSAs towards their "community involvement" when it comes time for renewal of their license.  So they welcome these, as the article says to fill unsold air time.

However, I'm not sure the example is valid.  I doubt Limbaugh has any unsold air time.   If there is it's rare and possibly an administrative problem not a problem selling the time.

[tombogan03884]

Stations get credits for running PSAs towards their "community involvement" when it comes time for renewal of their license.  So they welcome these, as the article says to fill unsold air time.

However, I'm not sure the example is valid.  I doubt Limbaugh has any unsold air time.   If there is it's rare and possibly an administrative problem not a problem selling the time.

Just goes to show the liberal slant of Wikipedia.

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