This Is Your Brain on Drugs

"This Is Your Brain on Drugs" was a large-scale US anti-narcotics campaign by Partnership for a Drug-Free America (PDFA) launched in 1987, that used two televised public service announcements (PSAs) and a related poster campaign. [cite web
last =
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title =PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENTS
work =The Museum of Broadcast Communications online archive
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url =http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/P/htmlP/publicservic/publicservic.htm
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1987 version

The first PSA, from 1987, showed a man who held up an egg and said, "This is your brain," before picking up a frying pan and adding, "This is drugs." He then cracks open the egg, fries the contents, and says, "This is your brain on drugs." Finally he looks up at the camera and asks, "Any questions?" A shorter version of this, simply showing a close-up of an egg dropping into a frying pan, was used a few years later. [cite web
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title = The Partnerships "Fried Egg" TV Message
work =Drugfree.org press release
publisher =The Partnership for a Drug-Free America
date = October 24, 2006
url =http://www.drugfree.org/Portal/About/NewsReleases/Fried_Egg_Message
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doi =August 13, 2007
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1998 version

The second PSA, from 1998, featured actress Rachael Leigh Cook, who, as before, holds up an egg and says, "this is your brain", before lifting up a frying pan with the words, "this is heroin", after which she places the egg on a kitchen counter - "this is what happens to your brain after snorting heroin" - and slams the pan down on it. She lifts the pan back up, saying, "and this is what your body goes through", in reference to the remnants of the egg now dripping from the bottom of the pan and down her arm. She then says, "It's not over yet" and proceeds to smash everything in the kitchen with the frying pan, each time saying, "and this is what your family goes through", "and your friends", et cetera. She finally drops the pan on the counter of the now-wrecked kitchen, and says, "Any questions?" [cite web
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title =The Partnership's Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Creation of Campaign Advertisements
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publisher =National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign
date =January 24, 2005
url =http://www.mediacampaign.org/newsletter/spring98/update-04.html
format =press release
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Usage and parody in popular culture

The phrase "this is your brain on drugs", was quickly popularised by teenagers and young adults during the period that these PSAs were broadcast. The original version was spoofed in popular culture such as the "Weird Al" Yankovic "I Can't Watch This" from his album "Off the Deep End", ridiculed by comedian Bill Hicks and mocked on the sitcoms "Married… with Children" and "Dinosaurs." It was also parodied on t-shirts and posters that amended the original tag line "This is your brain on drugs, side of bacon".

In the movie "", a TV is showing a version of the original ad, with the man played by an uncredited Johnny Depp (who starred in the original "Nightmare" movie). Freddy then enters the ad, mocks the man and kills him.

In the episode "Waiting to Inhale" of British sitcom "My Family", Abi puts an egg on the table and says, "This is your brain." She then picks up a frying pan, says, "This is your brain on drugs" before smashing the egg with the frying pan rather than frying the egg.

The second version has been satirized in films such as "Scary Movie 2" and on the premiere episode of the television show "Robot Chicken", for which Cook reprised her role. In the Robot Chicken version, Cook goes on a rampage, beating innocent bystanders, and destroying property with the frying pan originally used to demonstrate the drug and its impact. Finally she hits herself on the head while hanging onto a building, commiting suicide in the process.

"TV Guide" went on to name it as one of the top one hundred television advertisements ever. [ [http://www.cnn.com/fyi/interactive/news/brain/brain.on.drugs.html#'Good%20persuasive%20information' CNN report on the commercial] ]

In "Tony Hawk's Underground", skating out of bounds will make a crashing sound, teleport you back to the level, and display different messages, one of the more common being "This is your brain on drugs."

In a "Far Side" cartoon, two chickens are watching a TV ad which says "This is your egg. This is your egg covered with bugs."

In the "Arthur" episode "The Rat Who Came to Dinner" when Arthur is imagining what it would be like with his teacher (Mr. Ratburn) living with him, at one point he is watching television when Mr. Ratburn enters the room with a balloon. "This is your brain," he says, and as he deflates the balloon, he states, "This is your brain when you watch too much junky TV."

The Ads and the campaign was showcased on "". Toward the end, Penn drove a steamroller over a group of eggs labelled with civil liberties to represent the War on Drugs. Afterward, he asked, "Any questions?"

Cult Internet comedian [http://thatguywiththeglasses.com Nostalgia Critic] poked fun at both advertisements in his [http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/nostalgia-critic/34-nostalgia-critic/473-top-11-drug-psas Top 11 Nostalgic Drug PSAs] video. In response to the girl destroying the kitchen, he asks "What the hell kind of drugs are you on?"

In the movie "Batman Forever", The Riddler once states "This is your brain on the box. This is "my" brain on the box! "Does anybody else feel like a fried egg?!"

ee also

*"Just Say No"
*"I learned it by watching you"
*Public service announcement
*Partnership for a Drug-Free America
*War on Drugs
*Propaganda

External links

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nl5gBJGnaXs The original PSA]
*The second version of the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZSSfSwr0T4 "This Is Your Brain On Drugs"] ad, featuring Rachael Leigh Cook.
* [http://www.drugfreeamerica.org/ Official PDFA website]
* [http://www.drugfree.org/Portal/About/NewsReleases/Fried_Egg_Message PDFA Fried Egg Webpage] including videos and spoof information

References