South Dakota’s Anti-Drug Campaign Is Literally “METH. WE’RE ON IT.”

The war on drugs has been a long one. There’s no one place in this country (or really any country) that is exempt or untouched by drug addiction and abuse, and unfortunately solving this national health crisis is an issue that polarizes just about everybody. The one thing we can all agree on though is it’s not a problem that will go away on its own or by simply ignoring it, so the first step is awareness, and South Dakota just launched an anti-drug campaign that, uhh, really got everyone’s attention.

According to state’s Department of Social Services, meth use among teenagers in South Dakota is twice the national average, and as the Department Secretary, Laurie Gill, told NBC, South Dakota “saw a 200 percent increase in people seeking treatment with the primary diagnosis of meth addiction.”

That’s a big problem.

So on November 18, South Dakota’s Department of Social Services announced their new, half a million dollar campaign to do something about it… and the tagline is “METH. WE’RE ON IT.”

Yes, this is real. This new campaign includes billboards, posters, ads on TV, a hotline, a website, and a corresponding video on YouTube — all featuring folks saying “WE’RE ON METH”.

When the campaign launched the internet, of course, came to a screeching halt and had a lot of things to say, the majority of which can be summarized as, “oh my god, did they actually drop half a million dollars to go with THAT SLOGAN?” Or, simplified even more, “LMFAO WHAT.”

There’s no denying that at a first glance, this is definitely hilarious.

But more importantly, it’s working like a hot damn. The DSS and the ad agency behind this campaign knew exactly what they were doing. If you want to create awareness and actually get people caring about your cause, there’s probably no better way to go about it than a slogan like “METH. WE’RE ON IT.”

So, when you think about it, it’s less funny and more really fucking smart.

All the information on South Dakota’s ON METH campaign can be found on the official website.

Published at Tue, 19 Nov 2019 22:42:30 +0000