Ginna Marston

Last updated

Ginna Marston
Ginna Sulcer Marston.jpg
Born
Ginna Mary Sulcer

(1958-02-19) February 19, 1958 (age 64)
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Education Phillips Exeter Academy
Alma mater Princeton University
OccupationAdvertising
Years active27+ years
Employer Ted Bates (1980–1986)
PDFA (1986–2007)
Spouse(s)Michael Marston [1]
Children2 sons: Quinn Marston, Connor Marston
Parent(s) Sandy Sulcer, father [1] [2]
Dorothy Wright (artist), mother

Ginna Sulcer-Marston (born Ginna Sulcer February 19, 1958) is an American advertising executive who has worked on anti-drug public service advertising campaigns at the Partnership for a Drug Free America, [3] a nonprofit consortium of advertising professionals which ran targeted media campaigns to unsell illegal drugs. [4] She was a founder of the organization in 1986. [4] As research director, [5] [ dead link ] she studied the consumer motivations of drug users by means of marketing research methods, [6] [7] [8] and she led media campaigns. [8] [ failed verification ] In addition, she often served as the organization's spokesperson. [9] [10]

Contents

Beginnings

Ginna Marston. Ginna Sulcer Marston 2.jpg
Ginna Marston.

Marston is the daughter of advertising agency executive Sandy Sulcer. [2] She graduated cum laude from Phillips Exeter Academy in 1976.[ citation needed ] She graduated cum laude with an A.B. in comparative literature from Princeton University in 1980. [11] [1] She worked at the Ted Bates advertising agency before joining the Partnership for a Drug-Free America in 1986 as one of the founders.[ citation needed ]

Partnership for a Drug-Free America

The agency was formed during the middle 1980s by key professionals working under the auspices of the American Association of Advertising Agencies, and included Phillip Joanou, Thomas Hedrick, Doria Steedman, and Marston. The thinking was that if advertising could create demand for helpful consumer products such as toothpaste and soft drinks, then advertising could shrink demand for dangerous addicting substances such as illegal drugs. Grants from the advertising association, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and businesses provided funding to enable the agency to operate. [12]

The first priority was understanding attitudes associated with decisions to use drugs, and the organization devoted substantial resources towards studying these motivations. Marston identified two key perceptions involved with the decision by young kids to experiment with drugs: (1) the risk to the user and (2) possible social disapproval, and the resulting media campaigns focused on both messages. [5] The group collaborated with anti-drug crusaders such as Carole Fields-Arnold. [13]

In the middle of the 1990s, research suggested that not only teenagers were vulnerable to drugs, but pre-teenagers as well, and Marston led an advertising effort to discourage early experimentation. [14] [15] She led anti-drug advertising efforts geared towards inner-city youth, [6] [16] [ failed verification ] and towards discouraging use of specific substances such as heroin, [5] [17] Ecstasy, [18] and marijuana. [19]

Marston advised the National Institutes of Health on anti-drug advertising strategies, [20] and urged game designers to not glamorize drugs in video games. [21] In 1999, she appeared in the Robert Zemeckis film entitled Smoking, Drinking and Drugging as a spokesperson. [9]

Personal life

Marston is married with two children. In addition to advertising, Marston is a singer-songwriter and has performed in local venues. [22] Her son, Quinn Marston, is a singer-songwriter and artist.

Publications

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "Michael Marston Weds Ms. Sulcer". The New York Times. July 20, 1986. Retrieved May 7, 2012.
  2. 1 2 "Deaths SULCER, FREDERICK D. SANDY". The New York Times. January 25, 2004. Retrieved May 7, 2012.
  3. Note: the organization has undergone numerous name changes and is called in 2021 the Partnership to End Addiction
  4. 1 2 "Sulcer, 77, Former DDB Needham Exec, Dies". Adweek. January 23, 2004. Retrieved May 7, 2012.
  5. 1 2 3 PAMELA WARRICK (August 30, 1996). "Can You Just Say No? Since 1985, the Partnership for a Drug-Free America—with the ad world's best and free media exposure—has been an ally in the war on drugs. New target: heroin". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on March 6, 2016. Retrieved May 7, 2012.
  6. 1 2 Rachel Rosenthal (July 11, 1994). "HELPING STEM DRUG USE PARTNERSHIP'S ADS SHOW INFLUENCE ON URBAN KIDS". Advertising Age. Retrieved May 7, 2012.
  7. RANDALL ROTHENBERG (January 17, 1990). "THE MEDIA BUSINESS: Advertising; People". The New York Times. Retrieved May 7, 2012.
  8. 1 2 "Ginna Marston, Executive Vice President, Partnership for a Drug Free America". Advertising Educational Foundation. April 4, 2000. Retrieved May 7, 2012.
  9. 1 2 Andy Meisler (August 29, 1999). "TELEVISION/RADIO; Getting Down to What Makes America High". The New York Times. Retrieved May 7, 2012.
  10. Kathleen Fackelmann (December 16, 2002). "Survey: Teen drug use on decline". USA Today. Retrieved May 7, 2012.
  11. Sulcer, Ginna Mary (1980). "The Grotesque as a Comparative Concept in Modern Narrative: Donoso, Gautier, Poe, Hoffman, Balzac".{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  12. Penny Singer (November 10, 1991). "Small Businesses Focus On Drugs in Workplace". The New York Times. Retrieved May 7, 2012.
  13. Myrna Oliver (July 16, 2004). "Carole Fields-Arnold, 59; Talent Agent Co-Founded Drug, Alcohol Program". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 5, 2012. Retrieved May 7, 2012.
  14. Times Staff and Wire Reports (March 5, 1997). "Preteen 'Pot' Use Doubles, Study Says". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on October 17, 2015. Retrieved May 7, 2012.
  15. Treaster, Joseph B. (October 2, 1992). "THE MEDIA BUSINESS; Television Ads Are Directed At Urban Youths and Drugs". The New York Times. Retrieved May 7, 2012.
  16. PDFA (2003). "The Inner-City Anti-Drug Campaign (1994 EFFIE)". Advertising Educational Foundation. Retrieved January 3, 2012.
  17. JERRY CROWE (July 14, 1996). "Heroin Deaths Fuel Music Industry's Soul-Searching". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 7, 2012.
  18. "Study: Teen Ecstasy Use Rising Fast". ABC News: Good Morning America drawing the teen set. February 11, 2002. Retrieved May 7, 2012.
  19. Mark Bowden (September 3, 1987). "After 20 Years, Pot Use Continues To Trouble". Philadelphia Inquirer. Archived from the original on January 31, 2013. Retrieved May 7, 2012.
  20. National Institutes of Health (2002). "National Conference on Drug Addiction Treatment: From Research to Practice". National Institute on Drug Abuse. Retrieved May 7, 2012.
  21. Michael Colton (June 18, 1998). "To Some Critics, N2O's: Not A Gas Ads for Video Game, Featuring Nitrous Oxide Evoke Drug Culture". Washington Post. Retrieved May 7, 2012.
  22. Check with PERFORMERS ... Ginna Marston Otis Cultural Council Minutes June 16, 2008 Archived March 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine