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=                             Ad Council                             =
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                            Introduction
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The Advertising Council, commonly known as the Ad Council, is an
American nonprofit organization that produces, distributes, and
promotes public service announcements on behalf of various sponsors,
including nonprofit organizations, non-governmental organizations and
agencies of the United States government.

The Ad Council partners with advertising agencies which work pro bono
to create the public service advertisements on behalf of their
campaigns. The organization accepts requests from sponsor institutions
for advertising campaigns that focus on particular social issues. To
qualify, an issue must be non-partisan (though not necessarily
unbiased) and have national relevance.

The Ad Council distributes the advertisements to a network of 33,000
media outlets�including broadcast, print, outdoor (i.e. billboards,
bus stops), and Internet�which run the ads in donated time and space.
Media outlets donate approximately $1.8 billion to Ad Council
campaigns annually. If paid for, this amount would make the Ad Council
one of the largest advertisers in the country.


                              History
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The organization was conceived in 1941, and it was incorporated as The
Advertising Council, Inc., on February 26, 1942, On June 25, 1943, it
was renamed The War Advertising Council, Inc. for the purpose of
mobilizing the advertising industry in support of the war effort.
Early campaigns encouraged enlistment to the military, the purchase of
war bonds, and conservation of war materials.

Before the conclusion of World War II President Franklin D. Roosevelt
requested that the Ad Council continue its work during peacetime. On
February 5, 1946, The War Advertising Council officially changed its
name back to The Advertising Council, Inc., and shifted its focus to
issues such as atomic weapons, world trade and religious tolerance. In
1945, the Ad Council began working with the National Safety Council.

Since Roosevelt, every U.S. president has supported the Ad Council's
work. In the 1950s, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and General Dwight D.
Eisenhower appeared in the Ad Council's anti-communism ads. In the
1980s First Lady Nancy Reagan collaborated with the Ad Council on the
�Just Say No� anti-drug campaign.

The Ad Council�s first president, Theodore Repplier, assumed
leadership of the organization in 1947. Robert Keim succeeded Repplier
as Ad Council president from 1966 to 1987, Ruth Wooden succeeded Keim
from 1987 to 1999, and Peggy Conlon succeeded Wooden from 1999 to
2014, when the current president, Lisa Sherman, began her tenure.

The Ad Council celebrated its 70th anniversary in 2012. The Ad Council
released an infographic that  demonstrated its impact through the
years on issues including safety belts, autism, litter reduction,
crime and wildfire prevention.

Since 1986, the Ad Council's archive has been housed at the University
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.


                          Famous campaigns
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* People's capitalism was an American propaganda meme popularized in
the mid-1950s as a name for the American economic system. It was
endorsed by President Dwight David Eisenhower for worldwide use by the
United States Information Agency, which employed the term to trumpet
the successful aspects of the American economy worldwide during the
Cold War. The propagandists depicted the United States as a classless
society of prospering workers versus societies of "slaves" in the
Soviet Union and China.
* Savings Bond (1942-1980) The first campaign by the then War
Advertising Council encouraged Americans to support the war effort by
purchasing war bonds.
* Security of War Information�Loose Lips Sink Ships (1942-1945) The
War Advertising Council's "Loose Lips Sink Ships" and "Keep It Under
Your Stetson" public service ads reminded Americans to be discreet in
their communication to prevent information from being leaked to the
enemy during World War II.
* Wildfire Prevention (1944-present) The Ad Council's longest running
campaign, Smokey Bear and his tagline, "Only You Can Prevent Forest
(now Wild as of 2001) Fires", was created in 1944 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!" 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). Smokey Bear
* 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.
* Polio (1958-1961) PSAs for the polio vaccine helped get 80% of the
at-risk populace fully immunized, eradicating the disease in the USA.
* Crying Indian (1971-1983) anti-pollution campaign for Keep America
Beautiful. The iconic �Crying Indian� ad, which featured
Italian-American actor Iron Eyes Cody, first aired on Earth Day in
1971. The campaign helped reduce litter by as much as 88 percent by
1983 and won two Clio Awards.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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".
* Vince and Larry, the Crash Test Dummies (1985-present) 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.The Crash Test Dummies
* 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."
* 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.
* '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 Web site
[http://adoptuskids.org/ 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.
* 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."
* Love Has No Labels (2015-present) focused on diversity and
inclusion, the campaign's video was among the 10 most watched videos
on YouTube in 2015. The commercial for the campaign won the award for
Best Commercial during at the 2016 Emmy Awards.
* 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.
* FWD campaign with USAID (2011-present) In September 2011, Ad Council
and United States Agency for International Development (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.

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. 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 'The Huffington Post' in an article about the Ad
Council's past 70 years of public service. The staff of the TV show
'Today' posted two "Rosified" images on their Web site, using the
faces of news anchors Matt Lauer and Ann Curry. 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.


        Organizations with campaigns done by the Ad Council
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*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
*Afterschool Alliance
*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
*Maternal & Child Health Bureau
*National AIDS Network
*National Crime Prevention Council
*National Fatherhood Initiative
*National Center for Family Literacy
*National Urban Coalition
*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 Forest Service
*United States Olympic Committee
*USA Freedom Corps
*WIC (Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and
Children)


            Partnerships with film production companies
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Several recent Ad Council PSA campaigns have involved partnerships
with film production companies, including Warner Bros., Sony Pictures
Entertainment, and Disney. Examples include a partnership with Warner
Bros. featuring characters from 'Where the Wild Things Are' in PSAs to
counteract childhood obesity, PSAs for child passenger safety
featuring clips from Warner Bros. 'The Wizard of Oz', a partnership
with Sony Pictures Entertainment's 'The Smurfs 2' to encourage
children to explore nature, and Disney characters such as Baby
Einstein for the LATCH System for the U.S. Department of
Transportation, 'Pinocchio' and 'The Jungle Book' for MyPyramid,
'Bambi', 'Sleeping Beauty', and 'Disney's Adventures of the Gummi
Bears' for Smokey Bear, 'Cinderella' for child booster seats by the
U.S. Department of Transportation, and the 'Little Einsteins' for art
instruction.
Several 20th Century Fox films also appears in partnership, such as
'Alvin and the Chipmunks' and 'Ice Age'. Universal Studios films are
also in partnership, such as 'The Lorax' and 'Curious George'.


                             Criticism
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Radio show host/comedian Adam Carolla took umbrage with the Ad Council
on his former radio programs 'The Adam Carolla Show' and 'Loveline',
stating that the announcements provide little 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.

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

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.

Ad Council spots are used to fill unsold air time by stations and
networks. Political talk shows often have advertising time either
controlled by the local station or a program's syndicating network
that goes unsold; this is often filled by promotions for other
programming on a station, short segments, and public service
announcements, including from the Ad Council. Activists unfamiliar
with the ad model of these programs or that of the Ad Council often
complain to the Ad Council itself, along with the organizations which
coordinate their messages with the Ad Council such as the AARP,
leading the Ad Council and the organizations to disclaim they do not
share the views of the hosts where their announcements air, and have
little to no control about where they may be scheduled to air.


                              See also
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*Ad Council Japan


                           External links
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*[http://www.adcouncil.org/ The Advertising Council official website]
*[http://archives.library.illinois.edu/about-us/program-areas/association-archiv
es/advertising-council-archives/
Advertising Council archives] at University of Illinois
*[http://eisenhower.archives.gov/Research/Subject_Guides/PDFs/Advertising_Counci
l.pdf
Guide to collections containing information on the Advertising Council
at the Eisenhower Presidential Library]


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