A brand-new health campaign in Australia is getting mixed reactions in social media.
The campaign featured a stoned sleuth in a variety of situations that meant to show how cannabis smoking can affect mental acuity and reflexes. In one of the videos, he's shown passing a salad instead of a salt. A girl sloth also struggles with surviving an exam perhaps after a nightly session of weed.
Launched by the New South Wales government, it should encourage teens to stay away from weed, but so far, it's getting a lot of mixed reactions, many of which have been pretty negative.
Hashtag #stonersloth trended on Twitter with some commenting how the videos are "bizarre" and they're "missing the mark" on the country's war against drug addiction. The Guardian Australia has also called the campaign as "dishonest," saying that it seems to be intended to people who already hate marijuana in the first place.
Adweek, on the other hand, has released an article, tagging the videos as "instant and classic fail." According to it, teens may only consider the videos as a joke instead of learning serious lessons from them. True enough, parodies are already cropping up in video channels such as YouTube.
However, it also has supporters who found the videos amusing but hitting the spot. In an interview with ABC, the Department of Premier and Cabinet explained that the campaign, which is already launched in various social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr, is meant to promote positive behavior and prevent weed addiction before it gets worse. The campaign is not expected to appear on TV anytime soon.
The National Cannabis Prevention and Information Centre, an agency previously linked to the campaign when the premier said it used its research, though, has already asked the premier to issue a retraction in print as it alleged it wasn't consulted.
