A Campaign against Cannabis Starring a Sloth Causes Controversy in Australia

Of all the possibilities for advertisements against cannabis that could be made, this is perhaps the least expected. Of all the animals that could be used for an advertisement, this is also, the least expected. However, an Australian advertising campaign has chosen it: a sloth (representing a human that uses cannabis) in somewhat questionable situations. 

First, the sloth is a young female student (it has a skirt and even a little bow) who suffers from sleepiness and is unable to finish her exam at school. She is also unable to pass the salt to her mother during dinner. The sloth also depicts a young man who isolates himself from friends during a party and is unable to join them in conversation, before they end up abandoning him. 

The final message of each scene is always the same: "You are worse on weed #stonersloth", a warning to state that smoking marijuana is bad. Each advertisement ends with the camera focusing on the sad and desolate face of the actor, who knows that they are losing everything. 

As you would expect, the campaign has caused a great amount of controversy in the cannabis sector. Everybody criticises, and correctly so, the fact that cannabis users are portrayed as being lazy, grumpy, moving extremely slowly and as unable to lead an active life. Also, many consider it to be one of the worst advertisements against cannabis that have been made up until now. 

Of course, the advertisement has its own website, “Stoner Sloth”, where they state that it is the work of the Prime Minister of New South Wales. However, at the moment it remains unclear who created the campaign. There are those that believe that it could simply be an internet parody.