Above the Influence Talking Dog PSA

Part of a series on Public Service Announcements (PSAs). [View Related Entries]

Updated Apr 06, 2017 at 02:10PM EDT by Don Caldwell.

Added Apr 06, 2017 at 12:56PM EDT by Don Caldwell.

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About

Above the Influence Talking Dog PSA was a 2007 anti-marijuana commercial created by the Above the Influence campaign in which a teenage girl is scolded by her talking dog for smoking marijuana. The ad's premise was widely mocked online for exaggerating the effects of cannabis, which typically does not cause realistic visual and auditory hallucinations.

Origin

In 2007, the Office of National Drug Control Policy and Partnership for a Drug Free America released a public service announcement as part of their Above the Influence campaign, in which a teenage girl is confronted in her kitchen by a talking dog, who asks her to stop smoking marijuana (shown below). On September 9th, 2007, YouTuber Lucky Stephens uploaded the commercial to YouTuber, where it gathered upwards of 1.1 million views and 6,500 comments over the next 10 years (shown below).

Spread

On January 8th, 2007, YouTuber Ryan Gallagher uploaded animated parody of the PSA titled "Stop Looking At Me" (shown below, left). On May 22nd, 2008, CollegeHumor uploaded a parody titled "Anti-Drug Dog," in which actress Aubrey Plaza is repeatedly confronted by her dog for being high (shown below, right).

On March 20th, 2009, the marijuana news blog HailMaryJane^[2] listed the PSA as one of "8 Awful Anti-Drug PSA's That Make ME Want to Smoke More." On April 29th, 2011, Ad Week^[3] referenced the original commercial in a listicle titled "Anti-Drug Ads That Make You Want to Take Drugs." On July 7th, 2012, a description of the commercial was added to the "Narm / Advertising" entry on TV Tropes.^[1] On November 11th, 2016, the Joe Rogan – Topic YouTube channel uploaded an audio clip of comedian Joe Rogan performing stand-up comedy routine about the PSA (shown below, left). On April 5th, 2017, YouTuber Zebra Corner uploaded a parody in which the character Mahk reacts with excitement after discovering his marijuana is potent enough to make him hallucinate a talking dog (shown below, right). Within 24 hours, the video garnered more than 255,000 views and 360 comments.