Thursday, February 24, 2011

PARTY IN THE PSA, PART THREE: This is your brain on drugs.

So how about these anti-drug PSAs? Are you enjoying them as much as I am?

Here's another classic from the 80's.



This PSA doesn't make a whole lot of sense, once you really think about it. If I'm understanding it correctly, drugs make my brain delicious and safe to eat. While I understand the message, I think that The Partnership for a Drug-Free America could have made their message a little clearer.

Evidently, I wasn't the only person who thought so. In 1998, they decided to re-tool their classic PSA.



Ha! Now we're getting somewhere! This time, they've done everything right. Smash the egg instead of cooking it. Destroy everything associated with the egg! It just makes so much more sense on a number of levels. Rachael Leigh Cook does a great job of driving her point home. Drugs are bad, and they'll destroy you.

I have one more PSA coming next week, and then we'll get back to some random commercials. I've got some real gems lined up, and maybe even a guest entry or two. Until then, stay off the pipe, and don't eat raw eggs!

1 comments:

Wordfiend said...

Interesting. You'd think that the second ad would be more memorable (and I especially like how it extends to what drugs do to your family), but I really had forgotten about it. The first one was such a ground-breaking anti-drug metaphor that I guess it was pretty powerful. Also, by making specific reference to heroin in the second one, they actually undermined their message.

I don't suppose there are any statistics as to which campaign was more effective ...

Post a Comment