Darren Aronofsky Directs Horrifying Meth PSAs

By Bob Marshall 

Warning: The above and below spots are of a graphic and disturbing nature. If  viewed at work, wear headphones and attempt to keep the shocked gasp volume low.

If there’s one film that could scare fifth graders away from drugs forever, it would be director Darren Aronofky’s 2000 drama, Requiem for a Dream. Perhaps no other major motion picture in history better captured the horror of heroin and speed addiction, as we watched the film’s characters lose their dignity, limbs and sanity due to a heavy reliance on drugs.

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One could argue that Requiem is the ultimate anti-drug PSA. (Some even argue that the director’s most recent hit, Black Swan, could be seen as an anti-ballet PSA, or at least an anti-Natalie Portman PSA.) So, when agency Organic and prodco Wild Plum were looking their next celebrity director to helm the camera for a new series of spots for the Meth Project, Aronofsky’s name was undoubtedly at the top of the list. After all, the Meth Project “aims to reduce first-time meth use with its hard-hitting and graphic portrayals,” and it doesn’t get more graphic than the above attempted suicide spot, does it?

Aronofsky has created four absolutely terrifying spots for the campaign, and perhaps even more shocking than the spots themselves is the fact that they will, apparently, actually air on TV. I mean, how does one get back into their regularly scheduled episode of Gossip Girl after seeing a young boy about to give sexual favors to a stranger in a hotel room to support his crippling addiction (above)?

If the creative brief from The Meth Project read, “Scare children to the point that they will never want to leave the house again,” then bravo to Organic and Wild Plum. In four 30-second spots, they somehow made meth less appealing than that entire horror movie-esque second season episode of Breaking Bad. View the rest of the spots here and the Meth Project’s new website here. Credits after the jump.

Project: The Meth Project
Spot Titles: ER, Deep End, Losing Control and Desperate
Airdate: November 8, 2011

Ad Agency: Organic
Chief Creative Officer: Conor Brady
Group Creative Director: Brad Mancuso
Creative Director: Urs Ross
Director of Production: Laurale Wunsch
Art Director: Tyler Warrender
Copywriter: Fred Abercrombie

Production Company: Wild Plum
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Director of Photography: Darren Lew
Executive Producer/Partner: Shelby Sexton
Executive Producer: Sandy Haddad
Executive Producer: Scott Franklin
Line Producer: Ted Robbins

 

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