I’m thankful for videos like this one, from Above the Influence by the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign. Though I doubt it needs to be said, any attempt at keeping teenagers from trying any kind of drugs is a good thing – and should be supported wholeheartedly.

That said, I fear this ad might actually communicate that by choosing not to “get twisted”, one can expect to be rewarded in some way. I realize this may seem like a kind of backwards, psychoanalytic, deconstructed, Peter Rollins/Slavoj Žižek-like “reading” – but notice how the commercial is shot from the perspective of the man at the counter, instead of the perspective of the students at the table, concluding with the man giving them a free meal.

Again, without seeming to be pessimistic, wouldn’t a truer account be one where the students who choose not to use drugs end up paying for their friends who skip out on the bill? And then, we would be faced with the reality that the true reward isn’t the free meal, it’s not doing drugs.

I’m all for generosity, and encouraging those who don’t “get twisted” in any possible way, but fear that if they “just say no” in hopes of a reward, they’ll miss the reward of being healthy and drug-free. Notice also, right before the man says “we’re straight”, there are straws on the counter that are straight! Coincidence? I think not!