What goes on in the minds of some of the so-called creative people in the advertising industry too often appears to have little connection with reality or common sense. It requires a disturbing lack of imagination and sense of responsibility to come up with a poster which appears to present the drink Coca-Cola and the drug cocaine as equal options for party consumption.

It is hardly surprising that the head teacher of Grange Upper School has complained to the Advertising Standards Authority about just such a poster, promoting a new men's magazine, which appeared on a billboard in Little Horton Lane close to the school.

In common with every town and city in Britain, Bradford has a major drugs problem among young people. Huge amounts of time, effort and money are going into campaigns to stress to youngsters that drugs are unacceptable and destructive - campaigns which struggle against peer pressure and the insidious activities of the dealers who nowadays are reported to ply their trade even at the playground gates.

Whatever justification the advertising agency concerned might attempt to put forward for this poster, it is at best ambiguous and could be interpreted by some young minds as suggesting that cocaine is an acceptable substance for party consumption.

This is not the first advertising campaign to backfire. The industry needs to look beyond its own smartness and sophistication at what goes on in the real world. Out here, vulnerable, immature people can too easily be influenced by advertising gimmicks which seem so witty when discussed around the creative conference table.

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