#StonerSloth government campaign backfires on social media

And, as predicted by many, instead of proving a stark warning to drug users, the eponymous sloth is already well on his way to becoming a stoner icon.

Having merch made up to ironically commemorate your gloriously misguided anti-drug PSA is a surefire way to tell it hasn’t had the desired affect. Well, that’s what New South Wales’ government should be taking away from the whole ‘Stoner Sloth’ thing, anyway.

“This campaign aims to prevent these damaging consequences”. As per the statement by the NCPI, they were not involved in the campaign development and learned of the stoner sloth idea when the ads were released this week.

This is exactly what Australian authorities have chose to do with “Stoner Sloth”.

The NCPIC rejects that claim.

The ads are targeted towards teens with a series of videos and social media posts that uses the sloth to represent a person under the effects of marijuana.

The #StonerSloth campaign, jointly released with St Vincent’s Alcohol and Drug Information Service, has garnered significant reaction on social media, with #StonerSloth trending at number one on Twitter Australia on Saturday. The campaign was attempting to warn teenagers against the dangers of sustained marijuana use by depicting them as disturbingly oversized versions of the South American mammal. The anti-weed brigade in Australia has been promoting a bunch of ads with the tagline “You’re worse on weed”, and the sorry mascot of these ads is, of course, a sloth.

NSW government anti-marijuana campaign #stonersloth has crashed and burned – because it just so happens to be the name of a well-known online weed dealer. Their schoolmates, siblings and friends shake their heads in disgust and mutter: “stoner sloth”. “Seriously this campaign is an early Christmas present”, said Kieran Morrissey.

How do you get young people to listen to government anti-drug campaigns?