“I Learned It By Watching You” And Other Great 80s Anti-Drug Commercials

I had originally intended to write to you all about this hilarious BRAND NEW commercial that I discovered in which Kraft Macaroni and Cheese pays homage to one of the classic anti-drug ads of the 1980s. That is, until I looked it up on YouTube and realized that the commercial had apparently been released back in April. Whatever, let’s still take a look.

People growing up in the 1980s will recognize the melodrama from this anti-marijuana spot that I have never stopped mocking.

“I learned how to roll my own from you, you bastard! I also learned to demand that people answer me and then interrupt them every time they start to do so!”

The 1980s, of course, were the height of the “Just Say No” movement and the crack cocaine epidemic in the United States. As a kid growing up at the time, I felt like there wasn’t a day that went by when I wasn’t exposed to some anti-drug message or lecture. While the War on Drugs has generally been regarded as an expensive and ultimately ineffectual campaign, there was some evidence that anti-drug efforts in the 1980s helped somewhat. Drug use declined during the Reagan administration. And while I won’t personally claim any angelic behaviors throughout my life, I will say that I’ve never tried any variant of cocaine or heroin or meth or anything like that. Though my theory is that the correlation between having a general asshole personality and cocaine use gets more of the credit there.

But one thing the anti-drug culture of yore did give us was a bevy of classic 1980s commercials. Celebrities were eager to add their voices to the cause. Here’s Clint Eastwood sitting on President Obama:

And then there’s…there’s this:

There were also a few who played into the fears of a presumably white suburban audience.

Yeah, those city kids…who gives a shit. BUT WAIT. Are you suggesting that weed can be found right here on Elm Street?

The Just Say No campaign also provided musical opportunities for people who otherwise probably wouldn’t have considered such a thing.

Thanks, anti-drug movement. Thanks a lot.

What are your favorite Just Say No memories?