Just Say No



"Just Say No" was a television advertising campaign, part of the US "War on Drugs" and prevalent during the 1980s and early 1990s, to discourage children from engaging in recreational drug use by offering various ways of saying no. Eventually, this also expanded the realm of "Just Say No" to violence, premarital sex, and any other vices that young people might try. The slogan was created and championed by former First Lady Nancy Reagan during her husband's presidency.

"Just Say No" crossed over to the UK, where it was popularised by the BBC's 1986 "Drugwatch" campaign, which revolved around a heroin-addiction storyline in the popular children's TV drama serial Grange Hill. The cast's cover of the original US campaign song, with an added rap, reached the UK top ten.

The campaign made its way into popular American culture when TV shows like Diff'rent Strokes and Punky Brewster produced episodes centered around the campaign. In 1987 La Toya Jackson became spokesperson for the campaign and recorded a song entitled "Just Say No" with British hit producers Stock/Aitken/Waterman, but changes in her public persona to a sexier style over the next few years limited her further involvement in the campaign.

The campaign drew some criticism for underestimating the drug use in America and reducing its solution to a catch phrase. No significant reduction in the use and trafficking of illegal drugs was seen during the height of the campaign. Over time, the campaign became the subject of some satire. Ironically, many of the child stars involved in the campaign, like Drew Barrymore, Corey Haim and Corey Feldman (and John Alford from Grange Hill), were at the time or later illegal drug users.