The Philadelphia Police Department had an ambitious idea for an anti-weed PSA—recreate the old Saved by the Bell cast’s ‘90s “there’s no hope with dope” ad, starring police officers as Zack Morris and friends. As you can see, though, it didn’t turn out exactly as the department envisioned.
Even leaving aside the tragic Photoshop and dubbing, the PSA is wildly bizarre and incongruous: it’s a desperate nostalgia play, but aimed at a target audience that’s too young to remember Saved by the Bell, and barely old enough to remember a time when “dope” wasn’t legal in several states and socially acceptable in 50. Who is this ad for? Is this even real?
The New York Daily News confirmed the PSA is authentic, it’s just extremely lazy:
The department’s social media manager, Sgt. Eric Gripp, admitted to The Daily News Monday that he originally wanted to replace the entire the Bayside cast with members of the police force but it became “overly difficult with everyone’s schedules.” Additionally, Pope Francis’ upcoming visit to the area has been taking up much of the department’s time.
“I just got tired of waiting and crudely pasted the commissioners face over the original video,” he shared.
Cops are already busy, the freakin’ pope is coming, and now you want a PSA? Screw it. The kids were going to smoke weed anyway.
[h/t TMZ]