Ad Council Fights 'Mannequinism'

The Ad Council has launched a new set of public-service announcements urging young people to vote.

The Council, which combines pro-bono creative from the ad industry with donated airtime from the media, is looking to boost civic participation among 18-24-year-olds.

The Council cites a a 2002 report from The Center for Information & Research that found that 57% of American youth ages 15-25 are "completely disengaged from civic life and politics."

In the humorous PSA, kids are shown the consequences of that disengagement: They turn into mannequins

The spots, which are currently being distributed to TV and radio stations, were created by Atlanta-based agency WestWayne. They are part of a 25-year industry vote campaign to which the media have already donate $450 million in airtime.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.