Billboard Ad Disturbs 6th-Graders

April 03, 1998 - Associated Press

MOLINE, Ill. -- Kids 1, Hemp 0.

About 20 Ericsson School sixth-graders were shocked to see a billboard featuring what looked like a huge marijuana leaf go up outside their school.

So they decided to write a letter to urge the advertising company to relocate the ad for a hemp-based shampoo.

``We know that your job is to sell advertising space,'' the students wrote in their letter to Lamar Advertising on Tuesday. ``We do not expect you to censor your client's ads, but we object to the placement of this ad so close to our school.''

By the time classes began Wednesday morning, the offending ad was gone.

``I am extremely proud of them. The kids were disturbed by it, and they did something about it,'' Principal Patricia Nelson said.

While industrial hemp can be used to make a variety of products - including paper, clothing, construction materials and rope - it is a member of the cannabis family, which includes marijuana. The two kinds of plant are often difficult to tell apart.

``Had we known that there was a hemp leaf on the board, we would never have placed it near a school,'' said Chris Iversen, Lamar Advertising's general manager.

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