Five Anti-Cannabis Campaigns at Least as Funny as Australia's “Stoner” Sloth

In recent weeks an advertising campaign against cannabis starring a sloth unable to perform the most basic tasks (such as taking a test or talking to his friends during a party) have elicited astonishment and outrage due to their exaggerated message, unsupported by the scientific evidence.

The ads, which have spread through the social networks under the hashtag #stonersloth are among the most furious attacks against marijuana in memory, but are not the only ones designed to vilify the plant that have ended backfiring on their creators, in the end becoming unintentional comedy videos.

The same thing happened in the 90s with "Loser," a spot that sought to identify and ridicule young people who smoke marijuana. While the problem raised with regard to the consumption of the plant by teenagers is real, it is already being addressed by regulations all across the world, and the solution was not to resort to stereotypes similar to those seen years later in the sloth ads.

When it comes to criminalising consumption and making things crystal clear for children, anything goes, even resorting to Ninja Turtles who are not on their best behaviour.

The "stoner" surgeon has also earned a place in this collection of exaggerated propaganda. Of course, no one would want to enter the operating room with a doctor under the effects of marijuana, but neither would he want to be in the hands of one who has been drinking, for example, or even taking antihistamines. 

A purported loss of faculties - which science has repeatedly debunked - is, as in the case of the #stonersloth, the main argument wielded by these sensationalistic campaigns against cannabis. The same thing applies, for example, to the dazed karateka and the rag doll.

In short, the kinds of ideas that the lazy "stoner" ad seeks to instil in Australian society are hardly original. They have been repeating the same refrain for so long that, at this point, they are funnier than they are scary.