Here are two long-lost Partnership for a Drug Free America produced video spots about Straight Edge. I’m not sure when these were made, but judging by the band logos in some of the shots, I’m going to guess mid to late 90’s. This is noteworthy because until 1997, most of PDFA’s funding came from Alcohol and Tobacco companies. After ’97, they distanced themselves from those companies, but continue to receive much funding from pharmaceutical companies.
While anything spreading the word about Straight Edge is good, this is amusing because the legal and socially acceptable drugs SxE is most associated with being outspoken against (alcohol and tobacco) are the same drugs PFDA spent so many years ignoring while trying to make the public think of “drugs” as only the illegal stuff. Of course, once the major cash from those companies got cut off, so did the PFDAs public profile. When was the last time you saw one of those “this is your brain on drugs” ads?
[ Video Link #1 | Video Link #2 ]
UPDATE: My friend Guav was apparently involved with this and I didn’t even notice. Some friend I am. Anyway, he writes…
The guys who made it had roots in HC/punk and knew what they were doing (the Minor Threat concept was theirs) and they were really nice–they had several hundred dollars worth of Vegetarian Paradise food delivered to the set for us while they were shooting it.
As you correctly noted, PDFA was largely funded by the alcohol and tobacco industries, which is specifically why those commercials never aired–the financial backers of the spots thought straight edge was just opposed to illegal drugs. When they saw the spots and realized that we also rejected alcohol and drugs and were vocal about that, they killed the spots.
Thanks Luke!