Two public-service announcements made by students at Pueblo High Magnet School and Doolen Middle School are making the rounds on television.
But unlike the typical PSA, which is often seen only late at night, these anti-meth ads have been reaching kids during popular shows during the primetime TV hours for the past three weeks.
"I was really pleased to not be seeing it in the middle of the night," said Pam Shapiro, the school's communication arts coordinator. "It was a vote of confidence that the vested interests were buying airtime when it would be seen."
The ads premiered Oct. 25 at a party at Doolen Middle School, the filming location of one of the ads. Both have been airing on at least nine channels with programming geared to kids 12 to 17.
The first ad in the "Makes Every Thing Horrible" series is called "Delete Selected Friend," and shows a student chatting on a social networking Web site with an unseen buddy who offers "ice" — a form of meth — to the friend. The student is seen deleting the friend from her list at the end of the 29-second spot.
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The second ad, called "Sux 2 B U," details a text-message conversation between a boy who is boasting to a friend about being "baked" while in class. The friend chides him for being on drugs, and the minute-long ad ends when the friend rebuffs his classmate's offer to take drugs.
Both ads have been shown during commercial breaks of shows popular among teens, including "The Simpsons," "America's Next Top Model," Cartoon Network's "Adult Swim" and various music channels, said Tania Capin, project manager for Kaneen Advertising & Public Relations, the firm that helped buy the airtime for the ads.
Nielsen ratings for the shows were not available. Capin said exposure also will be measured by the number of people who call the phone number listed at the end of the ads, which directs them to a confidential hot line to talk about meth.
Pueblo senior Andre Quijada said he hasn't seen the ad on TV yet, but his friends have and said they were impressed that a student-made ad was on a prime-time show.
"I think they related to the message we were trying to show," said Quijada, 17, who worked on the project as a video and sound editor.
Before the Pueblo students could begin to produce the ads, Shapiro wanted the students to know more about the dangers of meth use. Members of the Tucson Police Department visited the school and told kids how meth use is linked to homicides and other major crimes.
Mary Muñoz, a junior, said the information gave her more incentive to get started on the commercials.
"It motivated me a lot just to know I could help someone and get the word out about meth," said Muñoz, 16.
The content of the ads was conceived by students, Shapiro said. The "Sux 2 B U" ad features students from Doolen in front of the camera, with Pueblo students manning the camera and handling post-production duties.
The ads were produced in March and took a couple of months to edit. Airtime was purchased with a grant obtained by the Tucson Police Department.
In addition to the two ads, Pueblo students made a 10-minute behind-the-scenes documentary that Shapiro said could be posted on www.schooltube.com in the future. The Web site allows students and teachers to share approved video about a variety of topics.
The documentary is also being edited to about five minutes for a possible presentation to the Tucson Unified School District Governing Board and the Tucson City Council, Shapiro said.
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See the ads
Go online to www.tusd.k12. az.us/contents/depart/ tusdtv/video.asp to see the anti-methamphetamine ads made by Pueblo High students. The ads are listed in the "Makes Every Thing Horrible" section.
