If you see your middle-schooler with an Archie comic book in hand, don't assume he or she would be better off reading something more meaningful. County Executive Andy Spano announced today that Westchester has teamed up with Mamaroneck-based Archie Comic Publications to design and publish a custom comic book dealing with issues that confront pre-teens and teens. Archie Comics gave the county free use of Archie characters; the comic was created and printed at cost. 

In addition, Archie and his friends will be featured in a cable television commercial and on the outside and inside of county’s Bee-Line Buses. As part of the campaign, the county also unveiled two new websites: one for teens dealing with underage drinking (www.westchestergov.com/teendrinking) and one for parents and teachers (www.westchestergov.com/stopdwi).

The entire public education campaign is being funded with fines from drunk-driving arrests that by law must be used on public education programs. No taxpayer dollars are being used. 

The $210,000 campaign was developed internally by the county’s Communications Office. This includes the creative work and printing of 50,000 copies of the comic book (enough to reach every middle-school child in the county), the cable media buy; the printing of the bus posters and cards; and the advertising space on the outside of the buses. (There is no charge for the space inside of the buses, since the county controls such displays.)

“After so many highly publicized teen drinking incidents in Westchester, parents asked us to come up with a public education campaign similar to our ‘Face Value’ anti-smoking campaign last year directed at teenage girls,” said Spano.” So we did it, and it’s a terrific partnership with Archie comics.”

He added, “Our goal is not to preach to kids, but see that they get the right information so they can make good decisions. The Archie comic books are a wonderful vehicle to talk about drinking, bullying and stress in a way that hits home. We think it will be a model program that we expect other counties to emulate”

Spano added that the campaign is a major collaborative effort involving students as well as staff from many county departments, including Communications, Stop-DWI, the Youth Bureau, Mental Health and Information Technology, with the help of Student Assistance Services and Archie comics. Unlike the Face Value campaign, almost everything was done in house. The exception was final lettering and art for the comic. 

Michael Silberkleit, chairman/co-publisher of Archie Comic Publications, said of the partnership: “For more than 60 years, Archie and his pals have been role models for youngsters across America. We are honored and proud to have been asked by Westchester County Executive Andy Spano to create a custom comic that helps kids deal with the problems of underage drinking, bullying, communicating with parents and stress.”

Added Richard Goldwater, president/co-publisher of the comic, “As an American icon, Archie delivers a positive message to Westchester youth in the pages of this comic and in the county-wide public service message.” 

CUSTOM COMIC BOOK

The comic book, along with a suggested lesson plan, is being distributed by the county's Office of Drug Prevention and Stop-DWI to middle schools throughout the county. Archie, Veronica, Betty, Jughead and Chuck, among others, are in Westchester to talk about:

• under-age drinking and how to resist peer pressure;
• bullying, what to do about it and how to help someone else;
• school-related stress;
• communicating with parents.

Readers will find within the comic book a number of familiar places, including Playland, the County Center and Central Avenue. In addition to the stories, the comic book includes games and useful websites and phone numbers. The comic also has a “no drinking/drugging” pledge cards for the students to return. 

CABLE TV

The TV spot was developed and edited entirely by the county’s Communications Office. It will begin airing next week on cable stations and will run for 10 weeks until the end of the year. Stations it will air on are MTV, Nick, TNT, CNN, News 12, BET, Cartoon channel, Family, US, and WTBS. 

BUS ADS

Three different “Think, Don’t Drink” posters will be featured on the outside of the county’s Bee-line buses. In addition, since so many of the buses are ridden by students to and from school, four other messages will be posted inside buses. Spanish translations of two of these messages will appear as well.

WEBSITES

Two new websites dealing with underage drinking have been developed, one to be a resource for parents and teachers, the other as a resource for teens. These websites include information about programs going on in the county, about state laws, about pending proposals and web links to a variety of useful sites.