MADD Canada: same-sex kissing = drunk driving, incest

[Sapphocrat]

Why I'm still mad at MADD
Jerome Cleary

<snip>

I stumbled across a casting notice for a Public Service Announcement for Mothers Against Drunk Drivers Canada. This is what I read:

“Casting Notice: GUYS WILLING TO KISS ANOTHER GUY, 18 to 21, all ethnicities but leaning towards Caucasian. Everyone must be willing to kiss another guy passionately for about 10 seconds. Everyone will have to make out at the callbacks. They should seem like very regular guys. They should seem very hetero, so it is unexpected to see the guys making out. BASIC SCENARIO: Three friends completely stoned out of their minds sit in a car vegging out. The two guys in the front seat begin making out.

“After a few moments they pull away from each other, and one says: ‘Wait a minute...we’re not gay.’ A superimposed image comes up on the screen that says: ‘DRUGS SLOW DOWN YOUR REACTION TIME.’ Then another superimposed image comes up on the screen: ‘IF YOU’RE HIGH YOU CAN’T DRIVE.’ Then cut to the guy in the back seat who says: ‘Not that there’s anything wrong with that...and like, aren’t you guys brothers?’”

<snip>

So let me get this straight, no pun intended: MADD has hired an ad agency to come up with a cutting-edge new PSA to stop people from drinking or doing drugs and driving. And, coincidentally, making out with someone of the same sex now infers that homosexuality is just as bad as being drunk or high on drugs and being in a car driving? And also that this leads to incest too?

<snip>

I called Ann McCright last week and she told me that in her call to the casting office it was confirmed that the commercial was cast and filmed and it was a done deal. My research revealed the same information: The PSA was real and cast and filmed in Los Angeles.

<snip>

More:
http://www.advocate.com/exclusive_detail_ektid33433.asp

At the end of the article (which is well worth reading), Cleary notes that the ad agency that came up with this said it was "a way to internally test what this idea would look like," and that "it was never meant for the public to view."

Why spend all that money just to "test an idea"? Sounds to me like somebody tipped them off that this was a really bad idea, and they got cold feet.

[marmar]

1. That's really bad...

What are they smoking at MADD? Perhaps they should lay off the drugs and alcohol.

[xzyra]

4. agreed. yikes.

It has been said a million times, but you just couldn't make this stuff up. Insanity.

[NMMNG]

2. Another one of their idiotic PSA ideas

"Doing drugs will make you suck face with someone of the same sex--maybe even your brother/sister!!!"

They're anticipating, of course, that the average viewer is going to be disgusted by the prospect of making out with someone of the same sex (and particularly their sibling).


IMO most of the anti-drug PSAs are stupid. They have claims that 10-year-olds could see through even if they were stoned at the time. Doing drugs is not going to make you turn gay, it won't make you run over little kids unless you drive while stoned (and alcohol can have the same result), it's not going to make you suddenly do a million things you never used to do, and so on.

Frankly I find this gay idea not only stupid but offensive.

[Occulus]

3. Didn't MADD jump the shark a looonnnng time ago?

Wasn't their director/president/whatever arrested for driving drunk?

Or was that another organization?

[Meldread]

5. Most of the anti-drug commercials....

...are beyond stupid anyway. I mean, seriously, I feel my IQ drop a few points every time one comes on. I'd be better off smoking pot than watching those.

EDIT:
If those stupid ass commercials wanted to make a damn impact on people, they'd show something a little closer to reality. How about a mangled corpse, a totaled car, people screaming and crying, then cut to a funeral with a mother wailing over a coffin of a dead child. Then, at that moment the voice over happens, "Do you still want to drink and drive?"

That'd be a hellva lot more effective, but apparently people can't handle that type of reality. I suppose killing people is a lot less scary than, you know, kissing someone of the same sex.

[liontamer]

8. that's what australia does

their phrase is "drinking and driving, you bloody idiot" I think it's a pretty effective ad campaign.

[niccolos_smile]

6. These anti-drug PSA's always make me chuckle...

I can't help it. They're so absurd and so over the top that I burst out in laughter everytime I see one, and then I turn to the person next to me and tell them what a crock of sh!t that was.

[sui generis]

7. this is your ad agency

this is your ad agency on drugs.

Maybe they should go with a theme like that. :shrug: It definitely seems to have some relationship to reality in their case.

[jeffseadot]

9. No problem

I don't see a problem with this. They're not saying that homosexuality is bad and they're not comparing it to drunk driving. What they *are* saying is that homosexual kissing is something that not everybody is interested in doing (which is 100% true), and that taking drugs will reduce judgment and reaction time, resulting in this (very improbable) situation where two straight brothers put makeouts on each other. Admitting that not everybody wants to have homoerotic experiences does not imply any sort of homophobia.

[Sapphocrat]

10. You're not gay, are you? n/t

[Taylor Mason Powell]

11. i think the ad makes a very good point.

You definitely don't want to be making out with your same-sex partner while driving. It's distracting and dangerous! It's common sense, people - wait until you've parked the car safely before making out! Hot man-on-man action while driving is worse than cell phones.