I’ve been seeing a lot of billboards lately with a new slogan: “Drive Baked, Get Busted”. It just kind of appeared out of nowhere and suddenly, it was everywhere. Ok, yeah, police want (stupid) people to know that driving after getting high is a bad thing.
I looked this promo campaign up and yes, it is new this year. Supposedly, it’s because of the new medical pot law in Florida. If we’re going to have medical pot, we need to let people know that you can’t take your “medication” and go for a drive. Here’s the funny part. The ad campaign is primarily targeted to 18-34 year olds. Exactly the ones that would need medical stoning plants. Secondarily, the ads target 55-74 year olds. You know, the ones that smoked pot all the time when they were… 18-34. But anyway, fuck yeah, Gen-X! You’re not targeted as pot smokers. And I find that really dumb, because everyone I knew growing up was perpetually high.
It kind of got me thinking about the whole PSA campaigns for any sort of impaired driving. First of all, what idiot doesn’t know that driving under the influence of anything is bad? (Anything but driving under the influence of Jesus) Second, if the person doesn’t know naturally that it’s bad, is a billboard really going to educate them? Sometimes, I see messages on the traffic warning signs that say, “DUI – Decide before you drive” and I think a lot of people are like, “Already done.”
You just wouldn’t believe the frequency I see impaired drivers on the highways. If it’s not some drug, then it’s probably tiredness. Tiredness is an impairment that doesn’t get enough attention. Maybe a billboard or two would help: “WAKE UP, MOTHERFUCKER!”
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