The legacy of former President Richard Nixon is, well, a tricky one.
The man who went by Tricky Dick also helped kick off the war on drugs by signing the Controlled Substances Act in 1970. “Thanks, Dick” is a tongue-in-cheek nod to the problems that Nixon and those like him saddled America with over the course of the last 53 years.
It is through the vessel of Thanks, Dick that we crafted an advocacy program highlighting not only the lowlights of the War on Drugs, but the highlights of legalization. This was expressed through animated video, direct email and mail send and in-store work. To put words to action, RISE also created a petition to reschedule cannabis from Schedule 1, which was made available online and in-store.
Face, place, and story.
We created an explainer video to give historic context.
Create Change.
To let the world at large know about what we’re doing, our CEO Ben Kovler wrote a letter to President Joe Biden explaining the mistakes of the War on Drugs and urging him to remove its Schedule 1 distinction. The piece ran in the New York Times, Washington Post and USA Today bringing to the forefront “The unjust legacy of Nixon’s Controlled Substances Act”.
We called out the bullshit and the facts.
And created a petition to create change and reclassify cannabis.
AGENCY
OLIVER Agency
MY ROLE
Creative Direction
CREDITS
Editor: David Kail
CW: Jake Krzeczowski
Senior Designer: Taylor Kopf
Designer: Irina Goldman
Illustrator: Jesus Moreno