Winners Don't Use Drugs

"Winners Don't Use Drugs" is an anti-drug slogan that was included in arcade games imported by the American Amusement Machine Association (AAMA) into North America from 1989 to 2000. The slogan appeared during an arcade game's attract mode. The messages are credited to FBI Director William S. Sessions, whose name appears alongside the slogan.[1] Sessions was dismissed from the FBI in July 1993.[2] After 1993, the slogan was attributed to "FBI Director" until the campaign was phased out in 2000.[3]

Screenshot of the slogan

History

The slogan was part of a long-term effort by the United States in its war on drugs started by President Richard Nixon 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.[1] 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 (AAMA), who agreed to require arcade video games to include the slogan message while in attract mode. The games Double Dragon, John Elway's Quarterback, and Tecmo Bowl 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.[4] A law was passed that required all imported arcade games to carry the message.[5]

In 1989, Bob Davenport, the director of the FBI's Office of Public Affairs, was tasked by Sessions to get anti-drug public service announcements 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.[1] 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.[1]

The slogan was used through the 1990s, with Sessions' name replaced by simply "FBI Director" following Sessions' departure from office.[5] 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.[5]

A similar campaign called Recycle It, Don't Trash It! credited to then-EPA Administrator William K. Reilly was launched several years afterward.[1]

The slogan has been parodied in the 2010 video game Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game, saying "Winners Don't Eat Meat",[6] and in Futurama with the version "Winners don't play video games".[7]

See also

References
  1. Sean Hutchinson (19 August 2015). "How the F.B.I. Made 'Winners Don't Use Drugs' the Arcade Motto of the '90s". Inverse.
  2. Ostrow, Ronald; Jackson, Robert (20 July 1993). "Defiant FBI Chief Is Fired by President : Law enforcement: Alleged ethical abuses by Sessions are cited as reason for dismissal. He refused to resign". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 19 October 2021.
  3. Wilcox, Dustin (15 June 2020). "William S. Sessions of "Winners Don't Use Drugs" Fame Passes Away". Wilcox Arcade. Archived from the original on 19 October 2021.
  4. "Video games to carry FBI drug message". UPI. Retrieved 2021-10-16.
  5. Rath, Robert (August 8, 2013). "Winners Don't Use Drugs: A People's History". The Escapist. Retrieved December 5, 2019.
  6. Narcisse, Evan. "Maybe If You Knew the Science… : Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World The Game Review" – via techland.time.com.
  7. "Futurama season 6 episode 17 review: Law And Oracle". Den of Geek. 11 July 2011.
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