The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) and Ad Council have decided to reinvigorate the neglected “Don’t Be An Asterisk” anti-steroid campaign by creating a new gateway page for the website and changing its name to the “Play Asterisk Free” anti-steroid campaign.
The new website for “Play Asterisk Free” leads to the original “Don’t Be An Asterisk” website which has remained unchanged after 30 months but also encourages visitors to visit the new Facebook page where they can “pledge” to “play asterisk free”. Their press release also announces the creation of a new “Play Asterisk Free” Twitter page in an effort to take advantage of popular social media to spread their message.
The original DontBeAnAsterisk.com anti-steroid campaign involved an interactive flash-based soccer game where visitors attempted to score goals while avoiding the “asterisks” (which represent anabolic steroids). Unfortunately, a lot of children found it to be more fun to run into the asterisks and get “juiced up” because the soccer player’s muscles magically increase in size to bodybuilder proportions! Children explained that ”it’s fun to watch [the player] get bigger.” The interactive game is still available online; it is doubtful that it sends kids the message that steroids are bad.
The main goal of the campaign appears aimed at convincing children that steroid use will result in a loss of credibility. The campaign attempts to convince visitors that a steroid user is “inauthentic,” “fake,” a “poser” and a “joke.”
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