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.
Hair Dryer/Never Easy, produced by Merkley Newman Harty for ABC TV’s public-service announcements.
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.
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 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.
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.
–Robert Shrum
