As reported yesterday, during a visit to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta I learned that the anti-videogame print ads we had previously attributed to CDC (following the advertising trades), might not have been in any way affiliated with the organization.

Today the CDC confirmed that the ads in question were not a part of the VERB Youth Media Campaign, which the organization has been running since 2002.

Faye Wong, Director of the campaign, explained that the "Give your thumbs a rest" ads were indeed created by Saatchi & Saatchi New York, one of the agencies retained by CDC for the campaign. Saatchi even submitted the concepts to the CDC for consideration, but the CDC rejected them. "This is an ad that was never approved for use," explained Wong. "As with all advertising, the agency presents multiple concepts, and the rejected ones died, but this one has been released for reasons the CDC doesn't understand."

She further clarified that the ads were never moved forward to focus testing or media placement, and they never appeared in magazines like Teen People or the gaming magazines where other VERB ads ran. "VERB targets kids 9-13," explained Wong, "and it is aimed at getting those kids to become more physically active. We present kids with a range of 'verbs' and hope to get them motivated to run, swing, climb, swim--whatever makes them physically active." According to Wong, formal evaluation of the broader VERB campaign suggests that it has been effective.

It's hard to argue with that message, but does it imply that the CDC disapproves of videogames, which sometimes seem to encourage idleness? Wong says no. "The campaign includes only positive messages, no messages about watching TV or playing videogames. The CDC even has games on the website, but their intent is to encourage kids to learn and to help them see opportunities to be physically active." Wong apologized that the message was released. "We never intended to send negative messages about videogames or the videogame community."

Advertising has a reputation for being a fast and loose business, but it's still very rare for unapproved media to be released. Wong wonders if recent employee turnover at Saatchi led to the leak, although its not clear if she suspects ignorance or malice. It seems most likely that the ads were leaked to sites like AdCritic as a prank or portfolio booster. In any case, Saatchi may not have a chance to do more work for the CDC. The VERB campaign ends in September, but Wong noted that the issue raises a red flag for future advertising contractors. "It raises a caution, whether with Saatchi or anyone else, that they should be aware that this mistake should never happen again. We have communicated to Saatchi that we are very unhappy about the release of these rejected print ad concepts."

To learn more about the VERB campaign, visit http://www.cdc.gov/verb or http://www.verbnow.com.

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