http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu3_1N6t6vw0
The Marijuana Prohibition has been highly effective since the 1920’s. The concepts surrounding the outlaw of recreational use and cultivation has worked on every generation since. As more research has become available about the plant, an activist movement has been burning. Most notably the group NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) has been somewhat effective in modern days as the medical marijuana is readily available in a number of states. Washington and California are also pushing for the regulation and taxation of marijuana by selling it legally for recreational use in liquor stores.
I found a NORML ad on Youtube that I found to be rather intriguing. The cultural ties of America are the first thing mentioned in the ad as individual professionals are naming off their occupations. “I’m a doctor, I’m a lawyer, I’m a journalist, I’m a student, I’m a teacher, I’m a representative.” The ad focuses on highly educated individuals in the beginning giving credit to the argument about to be raised based on their respectable occupations. The ad then jumps to a man that states, “I’m a cancer patient,” hitting the viewer in the heart. The ad then touches on each individual again and their struggles with the drug war identifying how they have affected American lives. “I lost my scholarship, I lost my job, the prison systems are overcrowded with non violent offenders costing our country billions of dollars, I already have to fight through chemotherapy…” The ad is from early 2009, during the heart of the recession, the viewer can believe in it based on their own financial struggles and what the lawyer has to say about costing taxpayers lots of money. The ad then goes on to talk about how “we are the American people, young, old, gay, straight…” and becomes a message to President Obama to end prohibition now. NORML uses the tactic of uniting the individuals as Americans by using Obama’s very own campaign message “Yes We Can!”
NORML sells America very well, and puts together a very believable ad. They do this by providing the cultural knowledge for you. They have very intellectual and educated individuals selling their cause. The professionals they have in the ad are so diverse however, that the viewer is easily sold on the view because if lawyers, teachers, journalists and politicians believe in the cause, then maybe I should do. The educated and intellectual population of America may feel that they need to accept this ad in order to be viewed as educated and intellectual. While NORML makes a very remarkable claim, the effectiveness of the ad gives them quite a bit more of merit as a credible organization.
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