Nitrous Oxide ad

This article is part of the Tobacco portal on Sourcewatch funded from 2006 - 2009 by the American Legacy Foundation.

While not for a tobacco product, this one-page advertisement found in the Philip Morris collection demonstrates how corporations use teens' fascination with drugs to market their products, and in the process glamorize and institutionalize youth drug use.

The ad was found among documents belonging to Jodi Sansone, Senior Manager of Philip Morris' Youth Smoking Prevention Programs around 1998-1999. The ad is for a Sony Playstation video game released in 1998 called "Nitrous Oxide." It features a head wearing a gas mask and headphones. The text underneath says,

• "Never trip alone. Always use 2 player mode."
  

The text below that says:

• "Breathe in. Breathe out. Play it alone. Play it with a friend. Head rush and techno-music included. Flashbacks sold separately."

A logo at the upper left in the ad says "music fueled by the Crystal Method," which bears an uncomfortably close resemblance to the words "crystal meth," the street name for the pervasive, powerfully addictive (and often locally manufactured) drug methamphetamine.

The ad carries the logo of Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation and a "TEEN" rating by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), which indicates "content suitable for persons age 13 or older."