-McCann Erickson has been added to the agency roster for Carlsberg Group and as a result, will work on advertising briefs for the brew brand across Europe, the Middle East and Asia. link

-This is what happens when a handful of friends in the Toronto ad industry want to play Cupid via Facebook app (above). link

-The ADC has announced its 2013 Portfolio Night All-Starts competition, which will bring one creative from each of the 24 participating PN 11 cities to New York to battle it out in August. link

-If you didn’t catch it last week, R/GA picked up “World’s Best Idea” prize for Nike+ FuelBand at the 2013 New York Festivals International Advertising Awards. Check out the full winners list here.

-Smoke & Mirrors alum Paul O’Beirne has joined Carbon VFX as senior producer in its New York office.

-While we’re on the prodco tip, let’s tell you that commercial prodco Cap Gun Collective, which was founded in Chicago, has opened up shop in L.A. and has hired former Furlined EP Jason Botkin in a similar role. link

-This news has been out for a little while, but NYC/Phoenix digital agency iAcquire has launched a new “visual agency footprint” including website, logo and brand presence. link; link

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

From DDB’s San Francisco office come three new TV spots for The Partnership @ Drugfree.org’s long-running “Above the Influence” campaign.

Before we dive into these, I’d like to draw your attention to the recent, horrifying anti-meth PSAs we saw from Darren Aronofsky. On a surface level, the PSAs couldn’t look more different, with Aronofsky employing heavy fear tactics and DDB SF attempting to communicate with teenagers using messaging that hinges on positive reinforcement. However, what the two series of PSAs have in common is the fact that each depicts an unrealistic portrayal of drug use. In Aronofsky’s PSAs, a single taste of meth leads to a suicide attempt, and in the above spot, a lack of drinking and smoking weed leads to a teen leaping to school on rooftops a la Spider-Man. Sure, it’s a “visual metaphor,” but as a teen, I viewed this sort of advertising as condescending. After all, it doesn’t take a pharmaceutical degree to know that it’s actually the kids smoking weed that are, in a sense, “flying.”

Here’s the thing, teenagers who read AgencySpy (I know you’re out there): Trying a drug once is not going to kill you, nor will it make you immediately addicted to said drug. However, do too much of a drug, ANY drug, and it will have a substantial negative impact on your life. From a teen’s perspective, though, most things in the world are black and white. To them, drugs have to be either good or bad, so the logical marketing strategy is to portray them as evil vices that will lead to a teen’s untimely demise. We’ve come a long way from “This is Your Brain on Drugs,” but is there a honest, realistic way to depict drug use so teens can make an informed decision their own? So, dear commenters, do we do so through positive reinforcement, fear, or a combination of the two?

Two more spots from DDB SF (including one that employs the “fear factor”) and credits for the one above after the jump.

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