Strangers Scarier Than Drugs in New PSAs

energy_bbdo_strangers_drugfree.jpg

OK so what would you do if you woke your kid up in the morning and they were a total stranger? You’d freak, right? Especially if they weren’t a kid but were wearing your kids clothes. And especially if they were some of the, shall we say, ugliest people you’d ever seen.

Which is is exactly what happens in these two commercial PSAs from Energy BBDO for The Partnership at DrugFree.org. Of course the message here is that a teenager’s mood, personality and appearance can drastically change when they take drugs. Which, of course, is what Energy BBDO is attempting to convey here.

So maybe it’s a bit more relateable than a couple of eggs being dropped into a frying pan but we just can’t get past the freaskishness of the actors in this PSA to even begin to absorb the don’t do drugs message here. But, perhaps, that’s just us. Ugly people frighten us.

Picture of Steve Hall

Steve Hall

RECENT ARTICLES

TRENDING AROUND THE WEB

Psychology says people who can’t look at old photos aren’t stuck in the past — they’re protecting themselves from the evidence that they spent decades performing a version of joy they didn’t actually feel, and the camera captured what they were too busy to notice

Psychology says people who can’t look at old photos aren’t stuck in the past — they’re protecting themselves from the evidence that they spent decades performing a version of joy they didn’t actually feel, and the camera captured what they were too busy to notice

Global English Editing

8 quiet things frequent travelers do at airports that reveal more about their inner life than any personality test ever could

8 quiet things frequent travelers do at airports that reveal more about their inner life than any personality test ever could

Global English Editing

Married couples without children who make it past twenty years together have survived something most people don’t recognize as difficult. They chose each other without a buffer, without a project, without a shared mission beyond the terrifying simplicity of just being two people who decided this was enough.

Married couples without children who make it past twenty years together have survived something most people don’t recognize as difficult. They chose each other without a buffer, without a project, without a shared mission beyond the terrifying simplicity of just being two people who decided this was enough.

Global English Editing

My parents never praised me for things I was supposed to do anyway — making my bed, doing my homework, being polite — and I grew up thinking they didn’t notice, until I realized they were teaching me that competence is its own reward, not something you perform for applause

My parents never praised me for things I was supposed to do anyway — making my bed, doing my homework, being polite — and I grew up thinking they didn’t notice, until I realized they were teaching me that competence is its own reward, not something you perform for applause

Global English Editing

A letter to anyone who worked for decades and still doesn’t feel wealthy — the problem isn’t that you failed, it’s that you were only ever given one definition of rich and it left out time, connection, peace, and health

A letter to anyone who worked for decades and still doesn’t feel wealthy — the problem isn’t that you failed, it’s that you were only ever given one definition of rich and it left out time, connection, peace, and health

Global English Editing

Research suggests the reason some older adults resist therapy isn’t stubbornness or pride, it’s that the entire framework — sitting with a stranger, narrating your pain, expecting validation — contradicts everything their generation was taught about strength, and asking them to do it feels less like help and more like asking them to betray the operating system that kept them alive

Research suggests the reason some older adults resist therapy isn’t stubbornness or pride, it’s that the entire framework — sitting with a stranger, narrating your pain, expecting validation — contradicts everything their generation was taught about strength, and asking them to do it feels less like help and more like asking them to betray the operating system that kept them alive

Global English Editing