# Stupidest anti-drug commercial yet. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 18, 2003, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-anti-drug-commercial-yet/149475 "2003-01-18T15:34:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Kaje](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f04885/32.png) [@Kaje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaje)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-anti-drug-commercial-yet/149475/61 "2003-01-31T07:59:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by headchecked \* > \*\*Of course this is sticky 'cause how the hell are you going to be able to, intelligently, teach an elementary school kid about the pros and cons of pot? \*\* what’s that addage? Tell me and I forget, show me and I remember, involve me and I understand? ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-anti-drug-commercial-yet/149475/62 "2003-01-31T13:42:32Z")
Spooky sequential thread titles: “People who do drugs are idiots!” “Stupidest anti-drug commercial yet.” — I think I’ve arrived at a conclusion…! ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-anti-drug-commercial-yet/149475/63 "2003-01-31T14:04:10Z")
**DoctorJ** , THANK YOU for pointing that out. You are 100% correct - as the mom of a 12 year old son, it’s crap like that on TV that I find makes my job as a responsible parent trying to raise Mini2U even tougher. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-anti-drug-commercial-yet/149475/64 "2003-01-31T17:48:07Z")
> [@](#): > > you are a much worse driver stoned than sober, are much more a danger/menace on the roads [That](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=149111) [is](http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1999/03/990325110700.htm) [debatable.](http://www.roads.dft.gov.uk/roadsafety/cannabis/) ---
**Author:** ![Jorel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f19dbf/32.png) [@Jorel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jorel)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-anti-drug-commercial-yet/149475/65 "2003-01-31T18:32:19Z")
I opened this thread assuming it was the teenaged pregnant daughter. Doctor J said, “I actually threw something at the television when I saw that one” I did too! It was a shoe! ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2003, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-anti-drug-commercial-yet/149475/66 "2003-05-15T01:27:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bongmaster \* > \*\*And everyone that wears diamonds supports terrorism as well because they sometimes use slave labor in Africa to get money for financing. Those commercials literally make me sick…I want to scream at them that if they were to simply legalize pot the problem would disappear. (Thats over-simplifying things I know) \*\* Now they are doing commercials where one guy suggests: hey, let’s solve all those problems by legalizing drugs. Then the other guy says, "sure. Make it easy to get, like twinkies. Heroin stands at the minit mart! Then, with a dissaproving look on his face, the other guy says “Bad idea.” How KIND of them, for using the 30 second commercial spot to impartially and thoroughly explore the costs and benefits of legalizing drugs! It’s OBVIOUS that heroin stands at the minit mart would be a horrible idea because… umm…because we said it was bad! Argument over!: rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Avalonian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@Avalonian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avalonian)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2003, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-anti-drug-commercial-yet/149475/67 "2003-05-15T01:47:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by erislover \* > \*\*I never got the impression that “DRUGS ARE BAD” was the point of the movie. I thought it was their dreams that did them in. \*\* According to the makers of the movies (specifically the director, I think), the main subject of the film is “addiction,” to drugs or to dreams. My feeling is that sometimes they go hand in hand. The “it’s bad because we say so” ads have long been a target of derision in our house. I watch them just to laugh on them, and I don’t even DO drugs. Other than caffeine, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Laurasia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@Laurasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laurasia)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2003, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-anti-drug-commercial-yet/149475/68 "2003-05-15T04:22:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JRDelirious \* > \*\*Heck, I’d rather have the guys from “The Truth” talking about how marijuana smoke has carbon monoxide and pesticide traces, it would probably be more dissuasive. \*\* Didn’t they have that commercial too? Where the truth guys talk about 1 joint being equal to x-amount of cigarettes? The only problem with that argument is that most people don’t smoke two packs of joints a day! By the way, a guy at the library I work at had to do a school report on tobacco companies…he went to [truth.com](http://truth.com) to find some info and oops, [truth.org](http://truth.org) (at that time) was totally porn! They changed it to something else now, but it was funny. He couldn’t stop the popups! ---
**Author:** ![Lucki\_Chaarms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lucki\_Chaarms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucki_Chaarms)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2003, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-anti-drug-commercial-yet/149475/69 "2003-05-15T04:38:58Z")
I swear, by FAR the most effective series of commercials to get kids to stop smoking weed would be just showing how stupid you can look/the horrors of the munchies. Show a pretty girl being careful to select a well-balanced, satisfying and healthy meal. At the end of the week she checks her weight. She’s lost 3 pounds! Yay! Then she goes to a friend’s house and smokes a joint. Cut to that same girl with slitted eyes staring at a tv with a gallon of ice cream in her lap. Show a guy looking smooth, talking to a girl he digs at school. She obviously digs him back, and that night they end up at the same party. He goes off with his friends and tokes up, stumbling back through the door and in to the kitchen. He puts a bunch of hot dogs on a plate and throws some Kraft Singles on top. Then he tosses it in the microwave. He’s scarfing down obliviously when he spies that lady he’s in to. He saunters over there and makes a complete ass of himself, not to mention disgusting her with the shit he’s eating. Who hasn’t seen something like these stories unfold in their real life? The government might actually gain some credibility with kids and be able to convince some of them to say no if they stuck to reminding them of negative effects that they know are true. As for the harder drugs, I don’t even know how you approach that. Those people don’t care. There’s nobody in the world sitting in a bathroom somewhere moaning at the intense burn of the crystal meth that they just snorted and thinking “You don’t suppose crank is bad for me, do you?” I think that the general public is educated about what all that stuff does to you, and a whole lot of them don’t care. Lc ---
**Author:** ![Shade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2003, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-anti-drug-commercial-yet/149475/70 "2003-05-15T12:19:17Z")
Anyone should know to create effective anti-drug commercials you need to look at it from your audience’s PoV. eg. something like Lucki Charms suggested. Telling people something they know is false won’t work, obviously. Why is it done? My theory is the adverts have to approved by somebody who doesn’t know anything about drugs (or someone elected by people who don’t) and can’t afford to admit to a stance anything less than “all drugs are the worst thing in the world” ---
**Author:** ![Mort\_Furd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mort\_Furd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mort_Furd)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2003, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-anti-drug-commercial-yet/149475/71 "2003-05-15T12:53:10Z")
[Here’s how you make an anti-pot commerical.](http://ska.about.com/library/weekly/aa083001.htm) There’s a link on the right side of the page to a real audio file of the video to “Because I got high.” That’s what I call telling kids in plain language what smoking pot can do to your life. [Here’s the text to the song.](http://www.maryjane.olo.com.pl/obrazki/piosenki/becauseigothigh.txt) ---
**Author:** ![Lucki\_Chaarms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lucki\_Chaarms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucki_Chaarms)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2003, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-anti-drug-commercial-yet/149475/72 "2003-05-15T15:32:15Z")
One definite issue with having a realistic anti-pot commercial featuring somebody looking stupid is that there’s a frighteningly high chance of that stupid-looking person becoming an ironic stoner icon, complete with t-shirts and websites and such. LC ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2003, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-anti-drug-commercial-yet/149475/73 "2003-05-15T15:56:04Z")
The stupidest anti-drug commercial by far was the Racheal Leigh Cook “This is your brain… this is your brain on heroin… any questions?” commercial. Congrats, you’ve succeeded in making heroin _extremely_ sexy. I was tempted to start using just to try to meet her… ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2003, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-anti-drug-commercial-yet/149475/74 "2003-05-15T16:09:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dissonance \* > \*\*The stupidest anti-drug commercial by far was the Racheal Leigh Cook “This is your brain… this is your brain on heroin… any questions?” commercial. Congrats, you’ve succeeded in making heroin _extremely_ sexy. > > I was tempted to start using just to try to meet her… \*\* I remember reading an article in Entertainment Weekly or People or something that said in a survey this was believed to be the most effective anti-drug commercial ever. I know I watched it intently everytime it came on… ---
**Author:** ![flight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbce88/32.png) [@flight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flight)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2003, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-anti-drug-commercial-yet/149475/75 "2003-05-15T19:14:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by catsix \* > **Anybody who has any experience at all with smoking pot knows that once you’re baked, all you wanna do is sit on the couch, order in pizza, wings and chinese food, and try to figure out whether or not you could make a bong out of that Chia Pet.** There was one anti-marijuana commercial that was pretty truthful. It had a couple guys smoking it up and asked, “So you think if you smoke Marijuana nothing will happen to you?” Then the guy’s mom calls for him and asks when the hell he is going to get a job. The voiceover comes back and says, “You’re right.” Along the lines of The Onion ariticle, “Study finds sitting around smoking marijuana leads to sitting around smoking marijuana.” ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2003, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-anti-drug-commercial-yet/149475/76 "2003-05-15T19:38:19Z")
When I read the description of the ad in the OP I thought the son had SEX with his mother. Now that would be disturbing. ---
**Author:** ![Daoloth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/82dd89/32.png) [@Daoloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daoloth)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2003, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-anti-drug-commercial-yet/149475/77 "2003-05-15T21:56:22Z")
[This](http://www.mediacampaign.org/mg/transcripts/tr_ploy.html) has to be the worst of the commercials: Norm: “Drug money funds terror.” I mean, why should I believe that? Nick: Because…it’s a fact? Norm: A fact? Nick: F.A.C.T. Fact. Norm: So, you’re saying that I should believe it because…it’s…true. That’s that’s your argument. Nick: It is true. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-anti-drug-commercial-yet/149475/78 "2003-05-16T06:06:30Z")
The Daily Show had an idea for an effective PSA. The correspondents and John stated how cool it was to do drugs and how great it was. For some reason, this thread reminded me of a Comedy Central Presents episode with, I think, Nick something. This is what I remember him saying: "Yeah, I don’t do drugs any more. Why are you laughing? I stopped smoking pot. My friends are like ‘You stopped? Dude, that sucks.’ “Yeah, it sucks remebering where I put things. The first week I was all 'Where did I put my keys, oh yeah, they’re in my pockets. How did I know that? I have superpowers. I am a god.” ---
**Author:** ![shep\_proudfoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90db22/32.png) [@shep\_proudfoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shep_proudfoot)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2003, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-anti-drug-commercial-yet/149475/79 "2003-05-17T00:40:20Z")
If only I had a mother like that! SP ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2003, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-anti-drug-commercial-yet/149475/80 "2003-05-17T02:00:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by OpalCat \* > \*\*Who is targetted by this commercial? The mom is crying about how she did drugs, then it shows her kid, who looks like he is about 10. He says “…and one time… I did it with her” > > Then back to the mom “I kept pushing him… smoke! smoke!” then she says that of everything, that is what she regrets the most. > > WTF? I’m sorry, but this is a pretty uncommon situation. What is the commercial trying to say? \*\* Visions of “You, all right? I learned it from watching YOU!” are currently dancing in my head. I will say that all those anti-marijuana commercials do liven up the wasteland that is Channel One. The kids at the three high schools I work at that show that program all get a good laugh from the PSAs. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-anti-drug-commercial-yet/149475.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-anti-drug-commercial-yet/149475.md?page=5)