COMPANY DUMPS ANTI-DRUG BRACELET

Unintended Message Not the One Business Wants to Convey.

WAYLAND -- Acknowledging that design got in the way of meaning, a New
York state promotional products company will stop producing and
discard the remaining inventory of Red Ribbon Week bracelets that
were provided to students here this week.

The bracelet, which carried the slogan "I've Got BETTER Things To DO
Than DRUGS," was called into question by some parents of WACO
Junior/Senior High School students because of the unintended message
suggested by the all-uppercase words: Better do drugs.

Mark Taxel, executive vice president of Hauppauge, N.Y.-based
Positive Promotions, said the bracelet was among the top-selling
items in the company's merchandise catalog, but no one there noticed
how the words looked on the bracelet and could impede the message.

"(Overall) it's a good message," he said by telephone Thursday.

Taxel said his company received just two concerned phone calls about
the bracelet. But whether it is two or a million, he said the company
doesn't want to put out a product whose message could be misconstrued.

Taxel said a new version will be produced in all capital letters.

Word of a redesign was welcomed by WACO Superintendent Darrell Smith,
who said just two complaints is "two too many."

Positive Promotions, which has been in the promotional products
business for 60 years, has produced and sold merchandise for Red
Ribbon Week for about 20 years, Taxel said. Its online catalog
includes ribbons, stickers, pencils, bracelets, T-shirts, balloons,
water bottles and more.

While it does makes promotional merchandise for businesses, Taxel
said the company's niche is making products for schools, health
facilities, government and human resource departments. About half of
the nation's school districts buy its products, he said.

"We're in business," Taxel said. "But we're in business to do good
things for people."