This is NOT how you market to GenX. Any questions?
How the Partnership for a Drug-Free America’s good intentions annoyed and ear-wormed a generation.
Remember the Good Old 1980s…When [Commercials] Were So Uncomplicated…
Thank you Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) for the song - Ticket to the Moon - this line riffs off of.
Dig if you will the picture...
…of a 17-year-old you watching MTV in the living room after school. The music video for The Bangles' Hazy Shade of Winter - coincidentally, the lead song on the Less Than Zero, a cautionary tale on the dangers of drug use and excess, soundtrack ends. You look around, notice the trees are brown (it's fall) and there's a patch of...
...butter on the TV, sizzling in a frying pan.
As what sounds like a clock winding down quickly goes off in the background, an ominous voice says, "Ok, last time. This is your brain," as you watch the butter fry.
Next, you see an egg and drop into the frying pan, where it erupts in explosive sizzling.
"This is your brain on drugs," the ominous male voice intones.
There is a brief pause before the same voice asks: "Any questions?"
(YouTube, 2025).
Recently I was asked to name a commercial I loathed. Immediately, the one described above - video below - came to mind.
This commercial was part of the 1980s and 90s Partnership for a Drug Free America’s (PDFA) dubiously ethical attempts to scare teens straight through via anti-drug advertising. I’m working on my Master’s in Marketing, and submitted a case study the War on Drugs, the PDFA, and it’s government-funded counterpart, the Office of National Drug Policy Control (ONDPC) (which was erroneously flagged by the University’s plagiarism and AI detector, but that’s another story).
I was 17 when this ad came out, and while it was - is still - memorable, it is my least favorite of the hundreds of advertisements, including other PDFA commercials, I've watched over the years. The only one I like less is this one, also by the PDFA:
My reasons for disliking the latter commercial, which I did not actually remember and had to look up when the case study brief brought it to mind, are maternal. My son was a child when this commercial aired and could have seen it on TV. It is also truly in poor taste, in my opinion, to have children saying things like "I helped the terrorist get a fake passport," even if the children saying them know the statements aren't true (presumably. I hope. Again, maternal instinct kicks in).
I dislike the fried egg commercial not because I prefer my eggs scrambled, not fried, and I’m trying to lower my cholesterol, meaning butter is mostly off my diet, but because it does not serve its purpose: informing teenagers of the dangers of drug use. The advert also shows a lack of its creators' understanding of the target market segment. Generation X, the target audience of the "Brain on Drugs" ad campaign of the 1980s and early 1990s and this commercial, was, even when its members were in their teenage years, skeptical of claims that were not accompanied by evidence. The advertisement may present a great metaphor for the damage drugs can do to the human brain, but it doesn't explain that damage in a way that engages viewers.
The advertisement also misses the mark with its target audience in attempting to use scare and/or shock tactics to discourage drug use. In addition to being skeptical, much of Generation X in 1987 was cynical (arguably, we remain so to this day. 🤣). Many of us watched the Challenger shuttle explosion live in our high school classrooms. After witnessing an event like that, which was the worst thing GenX had witnessed prior to the attacks on the World Trade Center in 2011, we didn't scare easily. Watching an egg fry in a skillet with something close to John Williams' Darth Vader theme from Star Wars wasn't going to actually scare us. At best, we were largely indifferent to this advert. At worst, we had a sudden breakfast craving.
Effective marketing achieves its goals by informing and demonstrating, as well as creating emotional connections.
This advertisement fails to do any of those. The commercial's visuals, a close-up of a jet-black skillet against a very gray, blurred-out countertop, do align with those of the times, as represented in films like Less than Zero and Purple Rain (Purple Rain's upbeat soundtrack contrasts with its dark bars and heavy themes such as breaking the cycle of abuse), and in music like Electric Light Orchestra's Ticket to the Moon off the band's Time album and the Bangles' Hazy Shade of Winter. Without meaningful words or clear evidence to support the implied claim that using drugs fries your brain, the visuals fall flat. I don't trust the unspoken claims the commercial is making because it lacks those. I remember having the same reaction when I saw the commercial on MTV - again, back when MTV played music videos full-time🤣 - when it first aired.
Can this [Commercial] Be Saved?
Sorry, Ladies Home Journal, unlike many of the marriages described in your long-running monthly column, no. A quick scan of the 'net suggests that the fried egg commercial was perceived as funny, not serious.
If I could turn back time (Thank you, Cher) and advise the PDFA on producing an effective anti-drug commercial, I would tell them to ditch one of America's favorite breakfast foods.
I would next advise the PDFA to research the target market segment before beginning work on a commercial. Focus groups and surveys would identify how the target market segment, aka GenXers in their teens and early 20s, felt about drugs and the circumstances where they would be most likely to encounter and/or try drugs.
I would also insist the PDFA gather data on which drugs, crack, cocaine, heroin, and marijuana, most appealed to them and which side effects of drug use GenX was most aware of and afraid of.
Finally, I would evaluate existing anti-drug advertising and determine, in addition to which advertisements had the biggest impact based on existing data, how a new advertisement could extend the existing advertising campaign.
Based on the data collected, I would create a commercial that highlights the facts about drug use and its impact on the parts of life the target market segment is most concerned with. In keeping with the "This is your brain. This is your brain on drugs" motif, the advertisement could be set in a high school classroom with a teacher handing out newly-graded exams. As she walks down the aisle, she hands one student a paper clearly marked with a big red A+. As the camera focuses in on the big A+ circled in red ink, a voice says, matter of factly, "This is your brain."
The teacher proceeds to the next desk and hands the next student their graded exam, marked with an "F." As the camera focuses in on that student's grade, the voice says, "This is your brain on drugs."
The voice continues: "All that studying you did for the big test? Drugs could make you forget it all. Don't risk your report card. Just say no."
Teenagers are often worried about grades, especially in high school.
That type of advertisement would capitalize on teenagers' real fear: bad grades. It ties the effects of drug use to a proven, researchable fact - yes, even in the 1980s when all we had were encyclopedias and microfiche - and avoids overdramatic claims.
I’m brainstorming on the fly here, but you get the idea.
I like to think of my generation as a great, untapped market, yes, still, even in - on the younger side - our mid-40s and definitely in our 50s and 60s. But you have to know how to market to us. Actually, it doesn’t matter what generation you’re trying to influence. You have to understand its attitudes and outlook to construct an effective campaign.
With GenX, that means a bit of cynicism and a healthy dose of researchable facts from a credible source.
Emphasis on that last part. I can’t imagine I’m the only 50-something who reads PubMed for fun.
Classic rock also welcome.
Cheers,
Cris
References:
YouTube (2025). 1980's Anti-Drug Commercial - Your Brain on Drugs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FtNm9CgA6U
Partnership to End Addiction (2025). https://drugfree.org/
