How to miss an anti-cannabis advertising campaign?

Anti-cannabis promotional campaigns have often been mocked for the simply because they missed their target and their message was not getting through.

The government of the State of New South Wales, Australia, has just added a new entry to this list, with the #StonerSloth campaign, embodied by a lazy stoned and supposed to shame teens who smoke cannabis. In fact, this advert is so ridiculous that it has quickly become a joke among the teenagers it targets.

In three short videos, cannabis has turned teenagers into giant sloths. Socially, they are completely useless. All they can do is moan, because they're stoned. And they can't pass exams at school, talk at parties or, more comically if unintentionally, pass the salt at the table.

«You're worse off when you're on cannabis,» the slogan asserts.

The prevention campaign is so cartoonish and bizarre that Australian teenagers, rather than learning from it, are treating it as a big joke. Parody videos are already out, endless Twitter jokes, and even a «Pass the salt» t-shirt for sale.

It's here #stonersloth the t-shirt pic.twitter.com/h9S5zqvQOo

ADVERTISING

- Eliza Berlage (@verbaliza) December 20, 2015

The New South Wales government department that posted the video is still supporting the campaign.

«The «Stoner Sloth» cannabis prevention campaign was designed to encourage positive behaviors in young people before bad habits start, and motivate cessation of use before they become addicts »said a representative.

«The campaign was made to be shared among young people, who are the most vulnerable to cannabis use. We know that young audiences respond better to campaigns highlighting the short-term consequences of their actions.».

The campaign is certainly easy to share. But will Internet users retain the ad's message or just find the sloth too cute?