Ogilvy & Mather faces axe from US anti-drugs account

Ogilvy & Mather, the advertising network owned by Sir Martin Sorrell's WPP, faces losing a $750m (£475m) US government account after its selection was blocked by the House of Representatives.

Ogilvy was reappointed earlier this month to handle a $150m-a-year anti-drugs campaign for another five years, despite controversy about its past conduct. Last year it paid $1.8m to settle a legal action related to incorrect billing on the account, and it was also slated by a Senate committee over its handling of the campaign.

But the US Navy, which because of the bizarre way Washington works is responsible for the anti-drugs campaign, reawarded the contract to Ogilvy.

Last week, Bob Bar, the Republican Representative from Georgia, moved an amendment to the Treasury, Postal and General Appropriations Bill, preventing the Navy from paying any money to Ogilvy for work after 1 October.

This amendment was passed in the House of Representatives by 308 votes to 121 and now moves to the Senate to be ratified. If that occurs, Ogilvy will be fired.

Though this would be embarrassing, a spokeswoman for Ogilvy claimed it would not harm the firm financially. "We are paid a fixed price and the agency's profit is less than $1m a year."

Ogilvy handles the planning and media buying for the campaign. The creative work is pitched by ad agencies on a pro-bono basis through a group called the Partnership for a Drug-Free America.

However, Ogilvy was responsible for a controversial advert, which ran during this year's Superbowl, linking the drugs trade with international terrorism.

Ogilvy is one of the three big networks that make up WPP. The others are J Walter Thompson and Young & Rubicam.