Winners Don't Use Drugs
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"Winners Don't Use Drugs" is an
anti-drug The illegal drug trade or drug trafficking is a global black market dedicated to the cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of prohibited drugs. Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except under license, of many types of drugs through ...
slogan that was included in arcade games imported by the
American Amusement Machine Association An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily games of skill and include arcade ...
(AAMA) into North America from 1989 to 2000. The slogan appeared during an arcade game's
attract mode This list includes terms used in video games and the video game industry, as well as slang used by players. 0–9 A ...
. The messages are credited to
FBI Director The Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation is the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a United States' federal law enforcement agency, and is responsible for its day-to-day operations. The FBI Director is appointed for a single ...
William S. Sessions, whose name appears alongside the slogan. Sessions was dismissed from the
FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...
in July 1993. After 1993, the slogan was attributed to "FBI Director" until the campaign was phased out in 2000.


History

The slogan was part of a long-term effort by the United States in its
war on drugs The war on drugs is a global campaign, led by the United States federal government, of drug prohibition, military aid, and military intervention, with the aim of reducing the illegal drug trade in the United States.Cockburn and St. Clair, 1 ...
started by President
Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
in 1971. Part of this campaign was to publicize the message about the harm of drugs to the youth, with the FBI focusing on how to use public messaging to spread this message out widely. William S. Sessions, who became FBI Director in 1987, established the FBI's Drug Awareness Program to get these messages to reach the youth and teenagers. Sessions announced the "Winners Don't Use Drugs" program at a press event on January 10, 1989, in cooperation with the
American Amusement Machine Association An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily games of skill and include arcade ...
(AAMA), who agreed to require
arcade video game An arcade video game takes player input from its controls, processes it through electrical or computerized components, and displays output to an electronic monitor or similar display. Most arcade video games are coin-operated, housed in an arc ...
s to include the slogan message while in
attract mode This list includes terms used in video games and the video game industry, as well as slang used by players. 0–9 A ...
. The games ''
Double Dragon is a beat 'em up video game series initially developed by Technōs Japan and released as an arcade game in 1987. The series features twin martial artists, Billy and Jimmy Lee, as they fight against various adversaries and rivals. The origina ...
'', '' John Elway's Quarterback'', and ''
Tecmo Bowl is an American football video game developed and released by Tecmo. Originally released as an arcade game in 1987, the game features a large dual screen cabinet with up to four players between two fictitious teams. A port for the Nintendo Entert ...
'' were used on stage as examples for how the message would appear on the screen. AAMA executive vice president Robert Fay announced that of the 20 video game manufacturers, 17 agreed to include the message in their software for all new machines. At the time of the announcement, it had already been installed in 10,000 current machines with a prediction of reaching 100,000 of approximately 750,000 active machines by the end of 1989. A law was passed that required all imported arcade games to carry the message. In 1989, Bob Davenport, the director of the FBI's Office of Public Affairs, was tasked by Sessions to get anti-drug
public service announcement A public service announcement (PSA) is a message in the public interest disseminated by the media without charge to raise public awareness and change behavior. In the UK, they are generally called a public information film (PIF); in Hong Kong, ...
s towards children. Various ideas were tried but without success. While at a dinner meeting with former FBI agent and Davenport's acquaintance Robert Fay, by then the president of the AAMA, the subject of this PSA came up. Fay's former role in the FBI had been part of a white collar crime unit who had led the investigation into a counterfeit video game ring, which led to Fay's transition to the AAMA. Fay had sway over the various companies in the AAMA due to having helped stop this counterfeit ring, and thus was able to get the AAMA to agree to include the message, once it was decided. Sessions, Davenport and Fay worked through several iterations of the slogan, eventually coming to "Winners Don't Use Drugs" as a short, uplifting message that not only applied to video games but other facets of life. The slogan was accompanied by the FBI's seal, which later helped to identify counterfeit arcade games for lacking the message, the seal, or an incorrect version of it. The slogan was used through the 1990s, with Sessions' name replaced by simply "FBI Director" following Sessions' departure from office. By about 2000, the use of the slogan in arcade games waned, as the arcade market was waning, while the intensity of focus on the war on drugs fell. A similar campaign called Recycle It, Don't Trash It! credited to then-
EPA The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it be ...
Administrator William K. Reilly was launched several years afterward.


In popular culture

The slogan has been parodied in the
Xbox Live Arcade Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) is a digital video game download service available through the Xbox Games Store, Microsoft's digital distribution network for the Xbox 360. It focuses on smaller downloadable games from both major publishers and independent ...
/PlayStation Network title '' Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game'', saying "Winners Don't Eat Meat" and in '' Futurama'' with the version "Winners don't play video games".


See also

* "
Just Say No "Just Say No" was an advertising campaign prevalent during the 1980s and early 1990s as a part of the U.S.-led war on drugs, aiming to discourage children from engaging in illegal recreational drug use by offering various ways of saying ''no'' ...
" * Seal of the FBI


References

{{Anti-drug ad campaigns 1989 introductions Anti-drugs public service announcements Video game culture History of drug control in the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation Public service announcements of the United States 1990s in video gaming 1990s in the United States