Alright, the title is a bit of a misnomer, since to my knowledge there are no PSA wars, but I was thinking about the different anti-drug campaigns that are aimed at children and that's the title that leapt to mind.
Back when I was a kid, the big theme was Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No," which I also associate with the "This is Your Brain on Drugs" fried egg commercial and the "I learned it from watching you," kid. I have no idea whether they were all connected or not. Nowadays, it seems that the big theme is "_____ is my anti-drug." (Though this doesn't count the anti-smoking commercials which, even though I'm a non-smoker, make me want to go out and immediately inhale an entire carton of Marlboro Reds. Could they have found more smug and sanctimonious people to be in the commercial? And I love how the campaign is called "the truth" even though they play pretty fast and loose with the truth sometimes themselves. But I digress. I just really, really hate those commercials. If teen smoking quadruples over the next 10 years, I completely blame that ad campaign.)
Anyway, I don't think that any of the anti-drug commercials are all that effective. But they do fascinate me from a cultural point of view. Generally, I give the edge to the '80s drug commercials. Look what they contributed in terms of satire and parody. Hell, you can still crack up a room of 30-somethings by hysterically shouting, "You Dad! Okay? I learned it from watching you!" Whereas the newer Whatever-is-my-anti-drug seem way too touchy-feely. I guess you can make fun of them a little (Unprotected Sex is My Anti-drug; Crime Sprees Are My Anti-Drug), but it doesn't seem to have the same punch to it. Mostly, they seem to me like the kind of thing that advanced placement kids with lots of extracurricular activities identify with. (Being a Goody-Two-Shoes is My Anti-Drug.) No one is going to be looking these ones up to get a laugh 20 years from now. So that's a big fail in my book.
RSS Feed
