muffy bolding

The original version of the Scion Webisode had a young man chewing peyote (second panel from top) and then exhibiting the red eyes, malapropisms and hallucinations of a mescaline user. The hallucinations were incorporated as major part of the rest of the story’s plot. Scion has now removed the peyote scene but the hallucinations remain.

The move comes after AdAge.com queried the automaker about the propriety of including images of mescaline use in advertisements aimed at the young demographic specifically targeted by Scion marketing campaigns.

DEA Schedule I drug

Mescaline — the psychotropic drug Peyote contains — is classified by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration as a Schedule I controlled substance, the same classification as heroin and LSD. It is routinely ingested by chewing raw or dried parts of the peyote cactus. A typical dose of peyote causes hallucinations that last about 12 hours, according to the DEA.

The cartoons, called “303 Caliber,” were launched two weeks ago on Scion’s Web site (www.wanttC.com) to promote the Scion tC model. Animated Webisodes feature four young characters on the road in a Scion tC. In the “Tina Returns” Webisode, the three male characters are walking along the side of a desert highway. One young man chews parts of a peyote cactus, and his face, mannerisms and voice change in a way that typically occurs after mescaline ingestion. After they get back in the Scion, the young man’s graphically vivid hallucinations and malapropisms become major elements in the continuing plot of the story.

Scion’s advertising agency, Attik of San Francisco, commissioned Australia’s Ambience Entertainment in Sydney to create the animated series about three multicultural young men and a young woman. The Web site launch was promoted to 1 million people via e-mail blasts and a half million 3-D lenticular postcards.

White House Drug Office

In Washington, after viewing the online Webisodes of “303 Caliber,” Tom Riley, a spokesman for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, said it was “offensive” that Toyota would make a joke out of drug use in its car promotions. “Marketing the abuse of dangerous substances to young people isn’t funny,” he said.

When initially contacted by AdAge.com early last week, Scion’s marketing headquarters in Torrance, Calif., downplayed the role of the Webisode’s peyote-related sections. Dawn Ahmed, national ad manager, said the character’s hallucinations were “just from being out in the desert without food or water” and that the automaker wasn’t promoting illicit drug use.

By the end of the week, a Toyota spokesman told AdAge.com the cactus scene would be edited out. “This one sort of slipped through,” the spokesman said.

Internal review

The peyote Webisode was subject to a mandatory internal review and approval by both Toyota’s Diversity Group and legal staff, according to the spokesman. Toyota said it had not received any consumer complaints about the matter.

The spokesman said the “more senior people” at the marketer recognized the potential “misunderstanding” of the peyote scenes and had to explain it to the young associates there.

A spokesman at Sitrick declined to provide further details.

Limbaugh and his third wife, a former journalism student, were married in May 1994 at the home of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in a ceremony officiated by Thomas himself.

His two previous marriages ended in divorce.

Word of Limbaugh’s latest marital difficulties come as the outspoken radio personality has come under investigation by prosecutors in Palm Beach County, Florida, where he lives, over allegations of illegal doctor-shopping for painkillers.

The proposal, which the agency’s acting Director Lewis Brodsky presented to senior Pentagon officials just before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, also seeks to extend the age of draft registration to 34 years old, up from 25.

The Selective Service System plan, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, highlights the extent to which agency officials have planned for an expanded military draft in case the administration and Congress would authorize one in the future.

“In line with today’s needs, the Selective Service System’s structure, programs and activities should be re-engineered toward maintaining a national inventory of American men and, for the first time, women, ages 18 through 34, with an added focus on identifying individuals with critical skills,” the agency said in a Feb. 11, 2003, proposal presented to senior Pentagon officials.

Brodsky and Richard Flahavan, the agency’s director of public and congressional affairs, reviewed the six-page proposal with Pentagon officials responsible for personnel issues. They included Charles Abell, principal deputy undersecretary for personnel and readiness, and William Carr, deputy undersecretary for military personnel policy.

The agency officials acknowledged that they would have “to market the concept” of a female draft to Congress, which ultimately would have to authorize such a step.

Dan Amon, a spokesman for the Selective Service System, based in Arlington, Va., said that the Pentagon has taken no action on the proposal to expand draft registration.

“These ideas were only being floated for Department of Defense consideration,” Amon said. He described the proposal as “food for thought” for contingency planning.

Navy Lt. Cmdr. Jane Campbell, a spokeswoman for the Defense Department, said the Pentagon “has not agreed to, nor even suggested, a change to Selective Service’s current missions.”

Nonetheless, Flahavan said the agency has begun designing procedures for a targeted registration and draft of people with computer and language skills, in case military officials and Congress authorize it.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, say they oppose a revival of the military draft, last used in 1973 as the American commitment in Vietnam waned, beginning the era of the all-volunteer force.

Mandatory registration for the draft was suspended in 1975 but was resumed in 1980 by President Carter after the Soviets invaded Afghanistan. About 13.5 million men, ages 18 to 25, currently are registered with the Selective Service.

“I don’t know anyone in the executive branch of the government who believes that it would be appropriate or necessary to reinstitute the draft,” Rumsfeld said last month.

At present, the Selective Service is authorized to register only young men and they are not required to inform the government about any professional skills. Separately, the agency has in place a special registration system to draft health care personnel in more than 60 specialties into the military if necessary in a crisis.

Some of the skill areas where the armed forces are facing “critical shortages” include linguists and computer specialists, the agency said. Americans would then be required to regularly update the agency on their skills until they reach age 35.