A Bit Too Much
April 30th, 2008 | by Craig |The Montana Meth Project ads have had a big impact here in MT, and by all accounts, they are working. I know my own kids are quite disturbed by the seemingly ubiquitous billboards.
I have to agree, though, that their latest effort has gone a tad too far.
The billboard shows the head and shoulders of a strung-out teenage girl lying on her stomach, staring into the distance. On top of her lies a man who is clutching her shoulder. Most of the man’s face and body is cropped out of the photo. Accompanying the photo is the slogan: “15 bucks for sex isn’t normal. But on meth it is.”
The ad suggests the two are engaged in sex for money, potentially to buy more meth.
That last sentence cracked me up. It seems so bland, like saying, “pornographic movies suggest that people are engaged in sexual intercourse.”
Still and all, it’s a bit much for billboards, if you ask me.
16 Responses to “A Bit Too Much”
By Wulfgar on Apr 30, 2008 | Reply
Being a liberal, I’m all for the porn! Seriously though, the first time I saw that ad my gut clenched up in revulsion. I too thought, ‘yeah, that’s too far’. Having seen it several times now, I’m not sure. I’ve known a few too many tweaked out young folk (as we all have) not to know that there isn’t truth in the horror that ad portrays. If it gets even one young lass to think twice about meth, I’m gonna have to throw down for it.
By Craig on Apr 30, 2008 | Reply
Do you want to know how I know that you don’t have any kids?
Seriously, though, I don’t buy the “if it only saves one life” argument anymore. What if it saves one life and de-sensitizes 100 others? Or it becomes a joke?
The meth-mouth ads were enough to make one lass think twice, so that debt has already been paid.
By Wulfgar on Apr 30, 2008 | Reply
I hate to say it, Craig, but the Montana meth ads have already become a joke on Craigslist, Filepile, and many other sites on the web. This one is no different. I wish it were, ’cause it actually hurts.
By Craig on Apr 30, 2008 | Reply
I remember how “Just Say No,” worked in the ’80’s, so I can’t say that I’m at all surprised.
By Rebecca on Apr 30, 2008 | Reply
I realize maybe you were being facetious, but this is one of my least favorite ways of dismissing an opinion, Craig. Yeah, Wulfgar may not have children–I definitely don’t–but believe it or not we were children at one time. Childhood isn’t a secret code only a parent can solve. Hell, mine wasn’t that long ago. I can certainly remember what did and did not traumatize or desensitize and extrapolate accordingly.
I think as we grow up, we forget childhood isn’t entirely an innocent time in our lives. I don’t know what yours was like, but I recall a lot of adult things went on in the hidden corners of the neighborhood. Smoking the occasional purloined cigarette was just the beginning.
Okay, I’m done being sensitive now.
Anyway, as for the meth billboards, well, people my age had that “This is your brain on drugs” egg-in-the-frying-pan bit when we were in high school. After the initial media hoopla died down, they were considered a joke in the school hallways.
By Rebecca on Apr 30, 2008 | Reply
I should mention that by all that I didn’t mean to imply I was some sort of elementary school badass or that I lived in a terrible neighborhood. Quite the contrary.
By Craig on Apr 30, 2008 | Reply
Rebecca, you’re out of your element.
(The “you know how I know” bit is a riff on a bit from “The 40-Year Old Virgin,” besides which Rob and I have been ribbing each other for years. We’re cool.)
But anyway, the point I’m making is this: Kids mature at different rates. What’s appropriate for an eleven-year old isn’t appropriate for an eight-year old. Or, hell, in some cases, it might be vice-versa. I’ve got 4 kids, and each one of them is different. I’d like to be able to broach the subject with each of them when they are able to handle it in an age-appropriate manner, but I no longer have that option.
Do you remember the plane that was flying around a couple of years ago with the anti-abortion ad? Is that one over the line, or can kids handle that one, too? In my mind, they’re two sides of the same coin.
FWIW, I was none too pleased about the airplane, either — just happy that it was far too high to actually see.
By DMerriman on May 1, 2008 | Reply
Personally, I don’t think the billboard is any more provocative or explicit (less, in fact) than the TV ad of the girl whose boyfriend ‘took care of her’. I don’t recall seeing the TV ad outside of the-kids-should-be-asleep hours, but still…
The way I see it, a kid old enough to take notice (on their own - simply taking an interest because of the fuss over it is another matter) of the implied situation is going to be old enough to understand the message.
By Rebecca on May 1, 2008 | Reply
Mark it zero, Craig.
I don’t think that pilot crossed the subjective line, either. Sure, I think he was an ass; the abortion debate has so saturated society I can’t imagine too many people at a Griz game or in commuter traffic would glance at that banner and suddenly change their mind.
Funnily enough, I also imagine the same folks who object to the billboard meth ad, the Generic Family Values Whatever, probably applaud that pilot’s attempt to change minds and hearts.
By Erica on May 1, 2008 | Reply
Presumably, this is not the thread where one interjects a “f**k it, Dude…let’s go bowling” quip. No, I thought not.
I am loathe to admit that having seen the horribly wrinkled old woman billboard with admonishments not to smoke all throughout my youth, plus repeated warnings on television and billboards of the dangers of drugs ultimately did not prevent me from [quite stupidly] experiementing.
That ad was gross, but different peeps heed it and interpret it different ways. I suppose. Some peeps may never touch meth because of that ad, and that’s great, and some will have their curiosity picqued and HAVE to try it. And that’s really scary.
By Jimmy don\'t play that on May 1, 2008 | Reply
Unless I am wide of the mark, the non-parents aren’t getting it. My four year old is sufficiently aware of billboards to see that image and ask about it. Is she old enough to understand sex outside of reproduction? I think not. So you would have me lie to her about the meaning of the billboard? Well thanks a pantload, jerky. What about my six year old who can read? What am I to tell him when he asks about $15 sex? In my house we speak the truth - I spent a long time today explaining Tampax - but there are some things that need not intrude upon their very young childhood, unless of course yer Pa cranks, yer Ma turns tricks or the UN runs a “peacekeeping operation” in your village.
We live on a farm, so copulation, birth and death are not taboo subjects. Smoking and drug abuse are frequently discussed, as they can be contextualized without jeopardizing the truth. But you non-parents just can’t understand how one wouldn’t be able to explain prostitution to alert toddlers, let alone not want to? Time to put down your hackles for a minute and think this one through, guys and dolls - at what age do *you* recall becoming intellectually aware of sex for pleasure, sex for money, drugs for pleasure, addiction, penury and enslavement? Must these images be on billboards? Why not have the MT Meth project put them on PBS in between Barney and Clifford?
On second thought, maybe these billboards are less damaging than Barney and Clifford. Still, you get my drift…
By goof houlihan on May 2, 2008 | Reply
Rebecca, your mentioning cigarettes is interesting. Tobacco IS the gateway drug. Drug users almost always try cigarettes first.
Back to the subject, though, yes, it’s a grim reality shown on those billboards. I guess those who object think “going to church” might be a better solution for stopping meth use than reminding teenagers of grim reality, but I’m thinking they hit different audiences.
Doesn’t “I’ll explain it when you’re older” work? Did with my kids when they were young.
Credit to the meth project for continuing to do their fine work.
By Wulfgar on May 2, 2008 | Reply
Jimmy don’t play that, you’re making a mistake that parents commonly make about the childless. Just because we’re childless it doesn’t mean we’re clueless. I’ve had more than a small role in helping to raise my niece, and I’ve been around kids in all stages of development (as have many childless folks in Montana) pretty much my entire life. And one thing I’ve learned through that is that learning to communicate with a child of any age is an ongoing (and often futile) struggle, probably harder on the adult than ever it is on the kid.
By Dani on May 3, 2008 | Reply
There’s a Montana Meth project billboard right outside my kids’ middle school, and they’re about the least likely kids to do meth in the whole city, except maybe for the ones who are homeschooled. But I suppose the folks behind this campaign want to be as PC as possible.
Anyway, if that particular ad goes up all hell will break loose. I don’t have anything to say about it except that they have crossed the line. Furthermore, their copy editor needs lesson in sentence structure. It’s the second sentence that cracks me up. “15 bucks for sex isn’t normal.”
Well, if 15 bucks for sex isn’t normal, what is normal? Twenty? Two hundred? The ad implies the amount is the problem, not the act of sex for hire, or even the age of the prostitute. It’s the asking price. The writer should have said “Teenage prostitution isn’t normal. But on Meth, it is.”
By Wulfgar on May 3, 2008 | Reply
20 bucks, same as in town …
Budumbump.
By Jimmy don\'t play that on May 5, 2008 | Reply
Hi Wulfgar,
I was generalizing, alright, but facetiously, given Rebecca’s remarks and Craig’s clarification. Guess I should have been less of an interloper and used different a term of reference. I agree the communication struggle is likely to be lifelong, but (to goof’s point) I’ve yet to be able to succeed with “I’ll tell you when you’re older” because after lunch, they remind me that they are older now, etc etc. Anyway, points made, points taken. I do not wish to denigrate the positive effects of the MMP, just to take issue with this ad being on billboards. I only hope when my kids are old enough to understand this sort of thing that they will be as perspicacious as Dani and wonder aloud how the bad English got in there!