New Anti-Drug Ads Focus On Gaming Skills
If you’ve watched American television for more than five minutes in the last few years you’ve probably seen one of the ‘Above the Influence’ advertisements. The Office of National Drug Control Policy finally learned that cartoon mascots aren’t generally good at turning kids off drugs and started a new campaign. A large portion of their efforts seem directed at stamping out marijuana use. They’ve tried many approaches to convince kids of the evils of this popular drug, but it seems they’re running out of ideas.
Their newest advertisement doesn’t warn about alienating friends, failing out of school or even going to jail. Instead it warns kids that the deleterious effects of marijuana on your perception, hand-to-eye coordination, reflex time and memory will negatively affect your gaming skills. The website even has ‘interviews’ with two computer generated characters (one a generic female ninja and the other a pointy-eared Link look-alike) discussing how a gamer getting high affected them.