The “Denial is a Drug” Youtube video is sponsored by The Partnership at Drugfree.org, which educates families about teen substance abuse and addiction. The television commercial opens with a boy saying, “I was in junior high the first time I caught my mom using denial.” He then admits to stealing his mother’s prescription drugs. He explains that he can get away with almost anything because his mother is on the drug called denial. The video shows the boy and a friend sorting his mother’s pills. His mother observes them, but chooses to ignore the situation. At the end of the video, the mom is shown finding a bag of marijuana in her son’s room. Finally, the commercial ends with, “denial is a drug” and urges parents in denial to seek help. The commercial caught my attention because it takes a different angle on drug abuse by highlighting that denial can also be considered an addictive drug. This commercial definitely makes a statement to parents who may be in denial of the reality of teenage drug use. What is your reaction to this commercial? How do you think this commercial takes a different stance on drugs and the role of parents? Do you think denial is a drug? How does this commercial make a lasting impression on viewers?
Prompt 7
ReplyDeleteAfter going through all of the comments on Youtube, it's clear to me that these viewers don't really care about the use of prescription drugs. They care more about why marijuana was a part of the picture rather than the mother ignoring the fact that her son was stealing her medications. When I saw this commercial, I thought it was a good way to show how parents are clueless to what their children are doing. Instead of the common commercials that show kids drinking and doing drugs, they show parents who are oblivious to the entire situation. I feel that this commercial shows how important parents are to their children's lives and their negligence only makes things worse. If more parents saw this commercial, it's possible that they would want to involve themselves into their child's lives more than they do now. It would be a sign to parents that it's important to talk to their kids about the dangers that come with taking drugs.
Yes, I agree with you completely. The common anti-drug advertisements always show teenagers' drug using, but those advertisement ignoring parents' influence in the whole thing. This advertisement emphasizes that parents' denial is also a kind of drug. That's a very unique angle. It is important for parents to stop children using drugs at the moment they find it. Or children will addicted to drugs during parents' denial.
DeleteI would agree with sarah. Denial is just as bad as doing the drugs becaue you are allowing for it to happen. That is like assistance to a crime, you can still get charged. So I feel as if the turn of the prespective is very smart tatic to use to get people to recognize how they can help.
DeleteIt is a nice change to see how this commercial takes a different perspective on substance abuse. Many advertisements against substance abuse tend to stay set on the actions that people are taking and the effects they have on people to show why they are bad. Giving a parents perspective on things helps get the message across in a different and effective way. It uses pathos to connect to parents who could be going through denial. It might reach out to them and give them the strength they need to accept something such as their children or people they know using drugs or being involved with them in any way, and help them intervene. Denial can be seen as a drug because the outcome of it can lead to those you can about getting into even worse situations then they started out in. Intervening is one of the only ways to help someone before things lead to something bad, and it seems as though this tries to relay that to the audience.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. This video emphasizes another aspect of drug---how parents influence their children, instead of the effects of the drugs or other aspects. This strategy can more easier arouse praents' pathos, especially the parents who are in denial. As a result, the parents would stop their children when they see their children steal medicines rather than pay no attention to it. Just like Sarawheeler said, intervening would one way to help someone before he/she go astray.
DeletePrompt 7
ReplyDeleteThis anti-drug advertisement uses a very different angle to state the drug problem. Normally the anti-drug advertisements just emphasize the harm of drug using to teenagers. But this advertisement focuses on a new and unique angle: the parents' denial is a kind of drug, too. The mother in the advertisement knows that his child steals and uses her prescription drugs. But she chooses to ignore it. The mother chooses to not face the reality directly. But ignoring his son's drug addiction does not mean the problem does not exist. At the end of the advertisement, she finds a bag of marijuana under his son's bed. The advertisement comes up a new angle of teenager drug addiction problem: the parents’ denial. I think the mother should be mainly in charge of the son's drug addiction. If she stops his son's behavior at the moment she finds it instead of denying and ignoring it. Her son may not be addicted in drug using. In the advertisement, “denial” is also a kind of drug. It makes children addicted deeper and deeper. The advertisement will give viewers, especially parents a deep impression. Parents should stop children's drug using at once instead of ignoring and denying it, which will bring a much more serious consequence.
I agree with you. The parents ignoring the drug problem is just as bad as the kids using the drugs. Parents in denial are not able to control their kids and it could lead to their kids doing more bad things in the future. I agree that ignoring the problem can lead to the kids being addicted to more serious drugs in the future. Parents denying that their kids use drugs now will make their kids think that using drugs in the future is also acceptable. This starts the kids on a bad road of no return. The kid will have a very hard time turning their life around and it all could have been easily avoided if the parents would have just stopped the kid's drug use from an early age.
DeleteNormally, the anti-drug advertisements focus on the drug uses and the bad effects on the teenagers, but this advertisement chooses a different angle---denial is also a kind of drug. In this advertisement, the mother paid no atttention to her son when she saw her son stesl her medicines. However, she found a bag of Marijuana under her son's bed at last. If she did not ignore the phenomenon when she found her son steal her medicines and chose to talk with her son about the danager of the drugs, the situation would not become that worse. Parents play a sigificant role in children's grow up, if the parents do not give their children the right leading, it would be much easier for children go astray. After watching this video, it would arouse people's care to their children, especially the parents who are in denial. They would pay more attention to their children's behavior and guide them to the right direction.
ReplyDeleteThis is a good point. They convey denial as a drug but also effectively display the implications that it has on parenting. There's heightened urgency to the desire to get help when the parenting situation is being threatened, and for a child to be taken care of.
DeletePrompt 7:
ReplyDeleteThis commercial is very effective in the way that it says how teenagers get addicted to the drugs, and parents get addicted to the denial of their kid's usage. The denial itself is a problem that can carry on throughout the course of a teen's drug use. I thought that, in terms of people's ideas and values, it is more effective because of the way that it is less graphic and does not show the standard viewpoint of an affected teenager and how their life is ruined because of the drug use. An example from the video is when the mother leaves and chooses to ignore what her son is doing with the pills. I thought this also drove home at the concept of being a good parent. From this perspective, the values of being a mother are challenged. I imagine that it is incredibly hard for the mother to get past her denial of the situation. This denial often times goes beyond situations with drugs. It affects parents of divorce, death, and other horrible situations.
I agree with Mickey. Often drug use is associated with very poor living situations which can be very misleading. This video shows a family that seem to be living in a house that is middle class, average, which is more realistic. It shows viewers that drug abuse can take place in the average household, not just the stereotypical settings.
DeleteLike Mickey said, denial is a very large problem. As they with the 12 step recovery program for addictions, "acceptance is the first step to recovery." This video clearly uses this idea to show that because the problem keeps on getting ignored, no one is getting better. The mom clearly has discovered that her son is addicted, but refuses to admit the problem because no parent wants to believe that their child is using drugs. Her constant denial when given proof is just as bad, if not worse then her son's addiction.
ReplyDeleteThe comments posted in this video aren't exactly "serious" for the most part. They take the video as more of a joke, like asking "How do I get this "denial" drug?" Although the comments don't display that the video actually "did" anything I think that it probably influenced many of the viewers. The video is actually quite thought provoking though. It makes you think about how many parents there are that just "look the other way" or suffer from denial, I myself know several parents like this. Although it may make the person in denial feel better, this will seriously affect people in the end. The mother in the video acts like she doesn't even notice her sons drug problem, and his problem will keep growing the more she neglects acting on it. The fact that the son realized he had a problem and his mom was stuck in denial is extremely unrealistic but good. Most addicts don't realize they have a problem, they actually constantly deny it over and over again. The video was a bit out of hand though, a grade schooler that has easily more than 40 painkillers that he stole from his mom is unrealistic. I would agree that denial is a drug though, how many people do you know that suffer from it? Overall I feel this video is very ineffective because of the exaggerated drug usage for a middle schooler; but this commercial takes a very different approach to the world of drugs. It is not centered around the consequences of taking drugs, but the consequences of not stopping someone who does. I don't think this commercial impacts the daily lives of adolescents, but I think it would hit home to parents, which I think the advertisement is trying to do. If they can educate parents or cause them to have revelations then maybe leniency would end and drug usage would go down.
ReplyDeletePrompt 7- I think the video did have an effect on the views of people on this blog. People have shown that they think parents are also responsible if they choose not to see the drugs their kids have. Parents need to be able to talk to their kids if they see a problem arise and not be so blind or oblivious that they think their kids would never do something like that. Parents are just as responsible as their kids if they choose to ignore the fact that their prescription pills are missing or if they find drugs and don't do anything about it. I think this video had an effect on people on this blog because many people agree that parents need to not be in denial. However the comments on youtube made it seem like people weren't as effected. Many people chose to post stupid comments about this video even though there is a huge message behind it. I don't think people realize how big a problem this is. People on youtube seemed like they didn't believe what the video was saying. I still think it made an impact on the other people that watched the video because it has such a strong message. Kids need to be held accountable if they have drugs and parents need to make sure they aren't ignoring a huge problem.
ReplyDeleteAs many people have said, this video takes a very interesting approach to raising awareness about denial. The commercial is extremely similar to the hundreds of anti-drug videos anyone who watches t.v. has become familiar with. I think this is very fitting because just like many drugs, denial can be addictive and can ruin someone's life. Denial is a slippery slope type of thing where just like the mom in the commercial, once you begin to deny one thing like the perscription drugs, you begin denying more and more like the weed she found. And just like many drugs, denial can have devastating outcomes because people don't get the help they need. I think it is very important for parents to stay up to date with today's society and stay involved in their children's lives. Everyone knows parents want the best for their children but acting like you don't know what they're doing and not wanting to be the bad guy and letting kids do whatever they want so they'll think the parent is cool is not ever a good way to go about parenting. I think this commercial will have a very long lasting effect on the adult audience it reaches because it shows that while a lot of the other anti-drug commercials are geared toward the teenagers, this commercial reminds people that the adults play a very big role in preventing drug use and abuse as well.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was very interesting that they chose to use the boy as the narrator. They victimized him, whereas many would victimize the mother in a traditional commercial. The son is the one going behind his mother's back after all. However, the stance that this video takes is even more powerful, as it places responsibility where it should always lay: with the parents. It communicates that parents who turn the other cheek, or who refuse to question their children when they suspect dangerous activity, are neglecting their children. This is portrayed by comparing the mother to an "addict" herself. A parent who is an addict is a devastating situation for children, as is a situation in which a parent does not intervene when their child becomes the addict.
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