Australian anti-cannabis PSA backfires due to hilarious ‘Stoner Sloth’

In an attempt to scare teens into not smoking pot, the New South Wales Department of Premier and Cabinet recently launched a PSA that's as effective as its main character trying to pass the salt at the dinner table.

The adorable, life-sized "Stoner Sloth" is the focus in a series of videos by UK-based ad agency Saatchi & Saatchi. With the tagline "You're Worse On Weed," doped-up teens are compared to the non-energetic, slow reacting animal. To almost no one's surprise, the ads have not received the indented reaction.

Oh and, yes... there's even t-shirts.

A spokesperson for NSW's Department of Premier and Cabinet said in a statement to The Huffington Post that the "campaign has been designed to encourage positive behaviours in young people before bad habits start, and motivate discontinued use of cannabis before they become dependent." It was also designed "to appeal to, and be 'shareable' among, teenagers, who are some of the most vulnerable to cannabis use. We know that younger audiences respond more to campaigns highlighting the short-term consequences of their actions."

Next year's hottest Halloween costume is also the name of a "cannabis solutions" website, which was established long before the campaign launched.

The penalties for posessing or using cannabis in Austrailia range from up to $2,200 AU ($1,500 USD) in fines and spending up to two years in jail.

It's been over a year since Philadelphia's own Mayor Michael Nutter signed Jim Kenney's marijuana decriminalization bill. The act reduced possession offense to fines – 30 grams or less gets you cited and fined $25 while smoking in public grants you a $100 fine with citation or nine hours of community service.