"Harry" and "Louise," the yuppie couple who were troubled by President Clinton's health-reform plan, quietly went off the air Feb. 20.
But their voices are still being heard in the health-reform debate.
Political experts say the ads have raised doubts in the public about Clinton's plan to overhaul the health-care system and provide insurance for everyone.
"People talk about these ads," says Robert Lichter of the Center for Media and Public Affairs.
"Harry and Louise have become the 'Taster's Choice' couple of the health-care debate."
The health-insurance industry spent $ 10 million since last fall airing the ads, but there are no current plans to resurrect the couple.
"There was a time when we were out there alone, almost literally in terms of advertising and raising questions about specific elements of the president's plan," says Willis Gradison, president of the Health Insurance Association of America. "Now we are not alone."
The White House, which long discounted the effect of the ads, made little effort to counter them except for criticism of the industry by the president and first lady.
Thursday the Health Care Reform Project - a coalition of business, labor and other groups that support Clinton's reform goals - is set to unveil a new $ 500,000 TV ad campaign.
Using footage of Clinton talking about problems in the health system today, the ads are intended to counter the opposition.
Robert Chlopak, a consultant for the project, says the calendar is driving the advertising as congressional debate gets under way.
"It was always our plan, not being able to match the other side dollar-for-dollar, we're going to have to take some lumps and hold back until it got real serious. It's about that time," says Chlopak.
Meanwhile, Rock the Vote, the youth-oriented non-partisan group that galvanized "Generation X" to vote in 1992, is joining the debate.
It's planning three TV specials, the first on MTV, to educate young people about health-reform issues.
The project is financed with a $ 2.8 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the nation's largest health-care philanthropy.
"It's our generation that has the most at stake in health reform," says Nicholas Butterworth, Rock the Vote's 26-year-old president.
The message for the 16-to-24-year-old crowd: Pay attention and care about health reform because you're going to help pay for it.
Rock the Vote also plans public service spots much like its 1992 get-out-and-vote message that helped register 1 million young voters.
Butterworth won't name the celebrities joining the health campaign. Rock the Vote, founded with $ 20 million in donations from the recording industry, has worked with some of the biggest names in music, including Madonna and U2's Bono.
Says Butterworth: "We will feature artists and celebrities and young people talking about health care . . . and present it in a way that's meaningful, hip and entertaining."
