Pro-Weed Site StonerSloth.Com The Real Winner, Enjoys 16k Traffic Boost

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Published

December 22, 2015

At last, the real winner of the NSW Government‘s relentlessly mocked Stoner Sloth campaign has been revealed, and – plot twist – it’s not actually us, the Australian public with front row seats to the biggest state government train wreck since Barry O’Farrell‘s expenno bottle of wine.

No, the real winner here is www.stonersloth.com, the US-based pro-weed website that’s just a .au away from the gov’s official fkn Stoner Sloth Tumblr page.

Since last Friday, it’s seen web traffic make like Buffy and spiked, going from next-to-nothing to thousands of visitors in a little over four days.

“It’s had over 10k unique visitors from Australia alone,” owner Dan told PEDESTRIAN.TV, “and another 6k from other countries.”

For those of you not in that 10k bunch, Stoner Sloth’s (US) mission is to “have the average smoker or patient enjoy each and every smoking experience from seed to sleep!”

It’s also been around since April this year, but even though *technically* it came first, Dan tells us he’s not going to make an official complaint against the NSW Government:

“If Stoner Sloth (AU) had any real anti-marijuana momentum, I’d consider a complaint,” he says. “But they took care of that themselves.”

With that in mind, we’re 0/100 surprised that Dan agrees the Stoner Sloth (AUS) campaign is a piece of putrified garbage.

“It’s over dramatic and not an accurate representation of being high,” he says. “Being high has real pro’s and con’s that people should know before deciding if they want to try it recreationally or medically. The ad missed that completely, [as well as the chance to communicate] real facts about being high to educate teens.

“Furthermore, it uses the sloth, a mascot of stoners and loved by everyone else. It’s horrible way to have people that smoke listen to your message or have a loved character be looked at negatively. It shows a disconnect between [the NSW government] and the people they are trying to reach.”

You might even say it’s like they tried to pass us the salt and fanged us the salad instead.

Meanwhile, whoever’s moderating the Stoner Sloth (AUD) Facebook page is still vehemently defending the campaign (because Christ knows no-one else is volunteering to).

“As for our approach to these campaigns, research has found that fear and negative messaging are not effective in encouraging substance users to seek treatment,” they’ve posted, about a campaign that says if you blaze up, you’ll fail your exams, be laughed by your mates, and the wrong dinner items to your fam.

“The NSW Government‘s position on the recreational use of cannabis has not changed, and a range of initiatives are being undertaken to ensure that illicit drug use, including cannabis use, is reduced and prevented.”

Well…. yeah…. but NSW Premier Mike Baird is still back-peddling the bajesus out of this one all-the-same.

Just saw the #StonerSloth ads. Not sure where NSW Gov’s ad guys found Chewbaccas siblings, but those videos are… Quite something.

— Mike Baird (@mikebairdMP) December 19, 2015