The failed Stoner Sloth campaign became an embarrassment of global proportions for the NSW Baird Government after the clunky and bizarre anti-marijuana campaign went viral for all the wrong reasons.
Now the advertising firm Saatchi and Saatchi have come out in defense of the taxpayer-funded ad campaign and its $500,000 price tag.
The agency has described the cost of the campaign as “modest” and money well spent, while continuing to insist the ads were lost on adult audiences.
"The videos we created were designed as part of a preventative campaign specifically for teens; the audience is not for adults or long-term cannabis users," a spokesman told Fairfax media. He claimed the social media engagement was a "significant return on investment and involvement".
uses the line "You're worse on weed" and #stonersloth with an actor dressed in a sloth suit in an attempt to show how marijuana allegedly ruins lives.
Jointly released with St Vincent's Alcohol and Drug Information Service, the campaign is "designed to raise awareness among teens of the risks and consequences of using recreational cannabis".
In one video clip, Delilah - an actor dressed in an animal sloth costume - struggles to submit a class essay while her peers brand her a 'stoner sloth'. The accompanying tagline drives home the message: "When you realise you should have hit the books and not the bong".
In another clip, a sloth named Jason, fails to pass the salt at the family dinner table and is dismissed with eye rolls and also called a 'stoner sloth'. The tagline reads: "Stoned at dinner and the struggle is too real".
The National Cannabis Prevention and Information Centre (NCPIC), which was initially linked to the campaign, last week distanced itself from the ads.
“For this particular campaign, NCPIC was involved only prior to campaign development commencing,” the organisation said in a statement.
“While we wish the NSW Government luck in future cannabis campaigns, the current Stoner Sloth campaign doesn’t reflect NCPIC views on how cannabis harms campaigns should be approached.”
In NSW, possessing or using cannabis attracts a fine up to $2,200 and can also include a two-year jail term or community service.
