New Anti-Drug Ad is Scary and Ironic

The Partnership at DrugFree.org has been putting out outrageous anti-drug propaganda for many years, but this latest spot takes us in a really strange direction…

‘Partnership at Drugfree.org ‘Driveway’ from Leo Burnett NY on Vimeo.

This thing goes into overdrive instantly, and for a second I thought they were seriously suggesting smashing up your kids’ stuff to keep them off drugs (unfortunately, it’s only a short trip from the typical nuttiness one can expect from anti-drug zealots like these). But the conclusion reveals a more nuanced message, encouraging parents not to break their kids’ crap with a bat, but rather to seek help from sources like DrugFree.org if you think your child is involved with drugs.

Now I would never recommend that anyone get drug information from DrugFree.org, as you could write several books on what those people don’t know about drugs (those books already exist, in fact), but I suppose I’d have to agree with the ad’s central message that going ape-shit with an aluminum baseball bat in your own driveway is a bad plan.

I find it amusing, however, that parents are now being warned not to overreact to their kids’ drug use by the very same organization that’s spent many years and many millions to convince parents to be scared senseless at the thought of their kids doing drugs. Parental panic is a product the hysteria that’s been spread by these very same people, and it’s the height of irony that they now dramatize this legacy of confusion and fear in a peculiar attempt at self-promotion. I have a feeling it won’t work so well.

Article republished from Stop the Drug War under Creative Commons Licensing