Sometimes I get my mind changed...
May. 5th, 2008 12:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
I really hate anti-drug and anti-smoking ads.
They're pandering, pedantic, and some other word starting with the letter p.
Most importantly, THEY DON'T WORK.
Or at least, I thought so until I saw this on the side of a bus a few weeks ago:

Yep. On the side of a bus was a poster with blood running down the sink, what might be a chunk of flesh, and the razor they used on it.
Fuck me if that isn't convincing.

This campaign is working, and the makers of this ad campaign, The Montana Meth Project, even have the numbers to prove it on their site. We're not talking a 3% decrease in kids who say they've tried meth, we're talking teen meth use dropping 44.6 percent between 2005 and 2007. Please to don't be splitting hairs about manipulating statistics here, kids. You get the point; there is a tangible decrease.

I won't go into whether or not I've tried any drugs, or what drugs I have or hadn't tried, but I can tell you that if I were even vaguely on the fence about trying meth if it shows up at a party, these would have helped me make up my mind.

Time to stop fucking around with lameass ads about relatively harmless things like pot and start making more ads like this for drugs that actually kill people and destroy families on a regular basis.
Imagine an ad campaign like this for drunk driving, with them no longer showing only the crushed car.
Are these ads graphic and provocative and Not Safe For Work? Yep. But they're about something that's Not Safe For Life and I think that when things like meth are involved, there are very few lines you shouldn't cross to make sure people don't do it.
My favorite part about this DON'T FUCKING DO METH YOU DUMBASS campaign?
They make spots for TV, too.
If you've got a favorite cause, as we all should, perhaps it's time to start showing these as examples--even if they're too extreme for that particular issue--of how campaigns really can do better than just waste fifteen seconds telling us that Tobacco Is Wacko If You're A Teen.
I know I'm going to.
Love,
b
EDIT: Yes, please debate. YES, YOU WILL BE CIVIL to each other or I'll freeze / delete comments.