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Drug Poster Too Real?

By Jay Treadway

March 23rd, 2010

We’ve tried a lot of new products through the years. We’ve been doing program merchandise for over 20 years now. Treadway Graphics has been a vendor for the Drug Abuse Resistance Education and Training Program (DARE) and the Gang Resistance Education and Training Program (GREAT). We usually put 20-40 new items out there each year. Some items go in the catalog and some items go out. It’s part of the process.

There was the real neon DARE sign. That was a great item but it broke almost every time in shipment. We did DARE road signs but every time I saw one I thought they were too small. How about the DARE bears? We had them in three sizes and we couldn’t keep them on the shelf! But, along came the official stuffed animal “Daren” and the bears were out. Bummer.

How about the welcome mats with the DARE logo on them? They were never approved; the DARE folks could only think about people wiping their feet on DARE. Ditto for the camo caps. It was deemed too close to violence; hunting and all that. Anyway, we had fun trying to innovate!   

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Last year we added an old product back in. It’s the “Self Destructive Use of Drugs” poster. Originally we had it in our DARE catalog. Back then it was on very heavy stock and had a tin strip top and bottom. It sold for $20 or so. We didn’t sell a lot of them and it was eventually dropped. Maybe it was the price?

The new poster we now have is the exact same poster, but has a new wrinkle. It now comes in a folded version that sells for only $1.95. The whole backside can also be customized with a sponsor or police department’s information. If somebody had a strong local anti-drug program (Plus a sponsor?) this probably would be a great fit. But maybe not. They still aren’t selling. Maybe it’s too cheap? 

But now I think reality is setting in. After some pretty good promotion to the right audience for almost a year, they still sit aren’t selling. Maybe the ugly reality of drugs is just not marketable? Denial, that’s it! Everyone must be in denial.  

  

 

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