cannabisnews.com: Good Riddance To Sex-and-Marijuana Ads Good Riddance To Sex-and-Marijuana Ads Posted by CN Staff on September 28, 2003 at 22:24:14 PT By Bob Levey, Columnist Source: Washington Post As the ninth month draws to a close, so does the run of a stunningly foolish ad. The advertiser is a nonprofit group called Change the Climate Inc. The organization wants a reassessment of marijuana penalties and attitudes in the United States. Fair enough -- bringing more light to controversial issues is always better than bringing less. But to generate that light, Change the Climate has given us the ad pictured at right. It has been running on Metrobuses and Metrobus shelters all this month. In case you left your specs upstairs, that is indeed a photo of a young, apparently amorous couple. Those are indeed the bare legs of a fetching woman, in plain view. The over line "Enjoy Better Sex!" leaves exactly zero dots unconnected. But wait a minute -- why imply that you can enjoy better sex if you ingest more marijuana? There's no clear proof of this. In fact, many reputable studies argue just the opposite. Even the Change the Climate Web site gives no solid evidence of a connection. Could the ads be a shrieky grab for our attention, regardless of whether sex has any relevance to drug policies? It sure seems that way. Interestingly, the sex-and-pot ad campaign seems to have laid an egg in one important way. Ron Rydstrom, Metro's assistant manager for market development, said he has had no complaints about it. That tells me that the ad is rolling right off people's backs -- not what you want an ad to do. Maybe Metrobus patrons are too engrossed in Bob Levey's Washington to care about thighs or dope (dream on, Robare). Or maybe Joe White, the founder of Change the Climate, is right when he says "the feedback [from the ad] has certainly been great." Regardless, Metro's policies may be odder than Change the Climate's. According to Ron Rydstrom, Metro accepted this ad as a public service. You know, the same way Metro accepts ads for the United Way, Easter Seals and Santa Claus. In what way is a pair of sexy legs and an inane slogan a public service? Rydstrom said Metro will accept any public service announcement that doesn't show "an illegal act." We could spin our wheels for a long time about whether Metro should have applied this standard to a PSA from a group that opposes partial-birth abortions. The ad showed a fetus after it had been aborted. It didn't make breakfast sit well. Metro said yes, then flipped and said no. Metro has always argued that its advertisers deserve First Amendment protection, even for breakfast-threatening points of view. No one cheers this policy louder than Yours Truly. Metro should be a transit organization -- not a censor, not a tribunal, not a literary critic. But since when did Metro park its common sense in the train yard? The "Better Sex" ad is ridiculous and potentially dangerous. It may induce people (especially kids) to try marijuana, in hopes of supercharging their sex lives. As Change the Climate notes, thousands are doing time in U.S. jails for pot possession. Wouldn't it be a pity if this ad boosted those totals? Metro needs to exercise the same sort of judgment it employed during the partial-birth abortion controversy. It should say no to ads that are designed to shock, rather than illuminate a point of view. The First Amendment doesn't require Metro to hide its head in the sand. And if that ad isn't enough to make you wonder. . . . Starting Wednesday, Metrorail will feature another, for a clothing chain called French Connection United Kingdom. The chain has had a store in Georgetown since 1999. Its stuff is aimed at the young and the hip. But its ads are aimed at the gutter. The chain routinely refers to itself by using its four initials. If you grab a quick glimpse, you'll think you're looking at a famous Anglo-Saxonism. Not content with this dab of cheapness, French Connection named a line of perfume "Scent to Bed." Its Web site is divided in half -- Four Initials Him on one side, Four Initials Her on the other. Is all of this obscene? Not directly. But it is so close -- and so obviously intended to be close -- that Metro should have shooed this bunch away. Ron Rydstrom says Metro accepted the French Connection ads because they use an acronym, not a profanity. But that's a classic failure to see the forest for the trees. French Connection clearly hopes to startle subway users in a lowest-common-denominator way. And Metro permits it. Just our luck. Source: Washington Post (DC)Author: Bob Levey, ColumnistPublished: Monday, September 29, 2003; Page C11Copyright: 2003 Washington Post Contact: letterstoed washpost.comWebsite: http://www.washingtonpost.com Related Articles & Web Site:Change The Climatehttp://www.changetheclimate.orgTrooper Made Poster Boy For Marijuana Billboardhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17279.shtmlMarijuana Billboard Snuffed http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17271.shtmlMetro Ad Campaign Features Marijuanahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17255.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #9 posted by RavingDave on October 03, 2003 at 15:16:45 PT Arrrrgh! But wait a minute -- why imply that you can enjoy better sex if you ingest more marijuana? There's no clear proof of this. In fact, many reputable studies argue just the opposite. Even the Change the Climate Web site gives no solid evidence of a connection. Oh, God. Were they double-blind studies? Did they use control groups? Were any monkeys involved?For Christ's sake, why don't these people just fire up a joint and find out for themselves? Sex has always been better for me when high. What are these people afraid of? Just because some study didn't tell them it's better, they won't believe it? [ Post Comment ] Comment #8 posted by Dan B on October 03, 2003 at 13:50:29 PT Thanks, Kaptinemo Thanks, Kap, for saying what I said, only better. I think your version made a lot more sense to Cannabis News readers than mine did, but my heart was in the right place, anyway. I appreciate your more direct articulation.Dan B [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by FoM on September 29, 2003 at 12:36:23 PT kaptinemo I agree with you. I'm not offended by the association but it worries me when they try to connect sex and marijuana in this current political climate. [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by goneposthole on September 29, 2003 at 08:01:44 PT 'Prohibitionists' that is doggone dyslexic brain of mine. Everybody makes mistakes. No one person is capable of knowing everything.My faults are many volumes in number; they would fill a library. [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by goneposthole on September 29, 2003 at 07:57:28 PT prohibitions guilty of perfidy perfidiousadj : tending to betray; especially having a treacherous character as attributed to the Carthaginians by the Romans; "Punic faith"; "the perfidious Judas"; "the fiercest and most treacherous of foes"; "treacherous intrigues" Their odiousness is their cup that runneth over.I won't hate them for hating me. They need help. [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by kaptinemo on September 29, 2003 at 07:02:16 PT: I've just seen the ad There's something that I take issue with; the idea of this whole sexuality and cannabis advertisement. We can laugh at how silly it is...but is the target audience laughing? Or sneering?In our opponents, we're dealing with dried-out, uptight, neurotic prudes who'd lock all men and women into chastity belts until 35 if they could get away with it, who'd make it a death sentence for you to shout the word "Condom!" in a crowded theater, and seemingly are all for population explosions so long as they are immediately followed by Biblical style decimations. They couldn't understand the joke of how this is a gentle but direct swipe at *their* ham-handed ads (the one where a teen girl is seduced after a few joints) if they they tried. They just don't get it. Subtle humor is wasted upon those who think slapstick is the height of hilarity. They are patently incapable of 'getting it'.So, we've established that antis are not the target audience of this ad. So, if they were not, then who *was* it?Unlike antis, we can joke and laugh at our own human foibles, but what is going through the mind of an average parent when they see this? One who's own children may have reached puberty and is having a hard time dealing with the whole nine-yards of raising a kid in these times?The antis have been able to marginalize us throughout the history of the DrugWar by whipping us with stereotypes. Do we need to invite further attacks by in essence agreeing with one? In the form of an ad that implies cannabis use leads to sexual promiscuity? The intent was anything but that, but the incorrect but commonly expected perception by the public can play right into the antis hands.Let the antis shoot themselves in the foot; we can't afford a single misstep. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by goneposthole on September 29, 2003 at 04:27:44 PT As the ninth month draws to a close Are those 'sexed up' ads going to have a baby? [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by OverwhelmSam on September 29, 2003 at 00:43:13 PT: This Guy Must Have A Problem The best story this guy could write about was the Sex and Marijuana ad? Don't get me wrong, I think the ads are great because they make the public aware that marijuana does enhance the sexual experience for many. As far as the ads being the wrong approach, I disagree. I'm all for this kind of in your face admonishment directed toward the prohibitionists. Good for them to know the winds of change are howling before these dinosaurs become extinct.If they are afraid of this and afraid of that, the best thing we can do is help them face their fears. [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by Dan B on September 28, 2003 at 23:12:22 PT I sort of agree Here is what Change the Climate says about the ad: It is in the spirit of fostering debate about whether politicians should be "legislating their opinion of morality" that we chose to use the "Enjoy Better Sex" ad as part of our campaign. Given the deafening hysteria by conservatives about gay marriage and homosexual sex - not to mention marijuana use - we could not resist incorporating marijuana and sexuality in our Washington DC campaign. With 50 buses and 40 bus shelters displaying this ad around the capitol, we expect to further raise the hackles of America's "morality police."I agree that there is a similarity between how the govcernment has treated certain sex acts and how the government currently treats cannabis. But, that is not the sentiment displayed in this ad. The ad simply says "Enjoy Better Sex! Legalize and Tax Marijuana." That's it. And, if you think about it, the fact that cannabis can make sex more enjoyable (at least for some people) is pretty far down the list of reasons why cannabis should be legalized. In fact, it is one of the least important reasons.So, I sort of agree with the author here. But, if Change the Climate wants to truly effect change (and I believe they do), they should stick closer to the theme of an earlier ad campaign that connects the dots between marijuana laws and the number of people currently crowding America's prisons and jails. This "Enjoy Better Sex!" ad only serves to cloud the issue, and it really only reaches the people who would change the laws anyway, not those who refuse to change the laws. Think about it: who are the people who favor marijuana laws? Generally speaking, they are the same self-righteous types who favor laws against sodomy and adultery. Rather than causing these people to change their minds, this ad merely confirms their suspicion that cannabis, like sex (in their view), is immoral and indecent. In other words, we don't need to "raise the hackles of America's 'morality police.'" Their hackles have already been raised for quite some time. Saying that we want to raise their hackles in order to get them to change their ways is like saying that we want to keep angry dogs away from children by hanging bloody steaks on them (on the children, not the angry dogs). It simply will not work. I agree with Change the Climate's overall message, but this campaign could have been better conceived. If you want to get a message to an audience, you have to learn to think like the audience to whom you are sending a message. This ad did not take its audience into consideration.On the other hand, this article doesn't mention the other three ads that have been used in this campaign. Those ads seem to hit the point much better than the "Enjoy Better Sex" ad.Just my two cents. Dan B [ Post Comment ] Post Comment