JUST SAY NO, LIKE BET DID TO THE WHITE HOUSE

What happened when the White House Office of Drug Control Policy offered BET $800,000 to run a year's worth of anti-drug advertising on its cable network? BET just said no. According to Advertising Age, "BET refuse to participate in the anti-drug program unless the buy for its TV network and associated magazine properties was raised... to $5 million." For the previous year, the White House's media buy at BET had been $750,000-- but BET executive Louis Carr claims that sums in this range were not "sufficient enough commitment to the network and to community that we serve." He also noted that the White House was spending more with Latino media outlets.

The $800,000 will now go to Black Pearl Entertainment (a joint venture with WB Network and Time Warner) and the African Heritage Network, where it will fund half a year's ads on each.