Major League Baseball and the Partnership for A Drug-Free America unveiled the second phase of an anti-steroid initiative designed to educate America’s youth and influential adults in their lives about the dangers of steroids and performance-enhancing substances. The next stage of the public outreach campaign includes a new component, a poster campaign utilizing high school coaches, which is designed to expand the initiative’s impact on the issue of youth steroid use.

The initiative message was communicated across the country through a multi-media campaign with TV, radio and print ads. The first ad, “Shrinking,” debuted during the broadcast of the final game of the World Baseball Classic March 20th at 9:00 p.m. ET (6:00 p.m. PT) on ESPN.
“Shrinking” targets young male audiences and takes a more provocative approach to communicating the dangers of steroids. As a voice-over describes how the drug can affect the body, a set of sports equipment, including a baseball, basketball, soccer ball, and football, quickly and noticeably decrease in size. A second ad, “Fade,” will debut during the 2006 season and will target both youth and their parents.
“The Partnership is extremely proud of our long and productive relationship with Major League Baseball,” said Steve Pasierb, President & CEO of the Partnership for A Drug-Free America. “Over the past five years we have reached tens of millions of families with essential messages about how to raise healthy, drug-free children. We are also indebted to BBDO New York for their long term partnership with us on this project. Our collective efforts are making a significant impact against steroid abuse among the youth of this country.”
The campaign will be distributed through a variety of both English and Spanish-language media. Following Monday‚s television launch, the ads will be broadcast on Major League Baseball’s television inventory, both locally and nationally. The advertising will be sent to the 30 Major League Clubs for them to run on available inventory during local game broadcasts as well as in-stadium video boards. Both spots will also run via local, national, and satellite radio distribution, and will also appear in various parent-targeted print publications.
Both commercials were created by award-winning advertising agency BBDO Worldwide Inc. and production companies Quiet Man Inc and Trio Films. The creative and production team also collaborated on the ad used in the first phase of the initiative, “Statue.”