Pablo the Drug Mule Dog
Encyclopedia
Cocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...
television advertisements produced by the agency Mother
Mother Advertising
- Mother Advertising is an advertising agency with offices in London, New York and Buenos Aires. Mother London is the UK’s largest independent advertising agency . The agency's philosophy is "To make great work, have fun and make money...
for FRANK
FRANK (drugs)
FRANK is a national drug education service jointly established by the Department of Health and Home Office of the British government in 2003. It is intended to reduce the use of both legal and illegal drugs by providing "targeted" and "accurate information on drugs and alcohol", particularly to...
, the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
government's national anti-drug campaign. The origins of the name Pablo are rumoured to be named after Pablo Escobar who was head of the Medellin cartel
The main advertisement of the campaign begins with Pablo in a cellar with a large gash the length of his chest, from which bags of cocaine are being removed. From this point, Pablo to sets out to discover, "what's the big deal about coke?". He encounters an armed dealer before talking with a few pushers and users in a disco. The shot then moves to the inside of a toilet, where a young man's nostril starts to bleed. The advert ends with Pablo using a payphone to Talk to Frank.
Pablo, voiced by David Mitchell
David Mitchell (actor)
David James Stuart Mitchell is a British actor, comedian and writer. He is half of the comedy duo Mitchell and Webb, alongside Robert Webb, whom he met at Cambridge University. There they were both part of the Cambridge Footlights, of which Mitchell became President. Together the duo star in the...
, has a wry sense of humour and manages to satirise not only the cocaine trade but also the advert itself, through quotes like "I picked up the phone...somehow..and talked to Frank" and "Ever woken up with a huge gash in your stomach? I've had better mornings". Elements of recreational cocaine use are ridiculed in the campaign's six adverts, from bleeding nostrils being likened to an anus
Anus
The anus is an opening at the opposite end of an animal's digestive tract from the mouth. Its function is to control the expulsion of feces, unwanted semi-solid matter produced during digestion, which, depending on the type of animal, may be one or more of: matter which the animal cannot digest,...
to sob-stories from pound notes used to snort the drug ("I hate being up his nostril!").
Indeed, the use of Pablo in the anti-drug campaign has been met with praise in the media and in the public eye, particularly for the large impact made without glamorising the drug trade. James Donaghy, writing for The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
said that "The Drug Mule Dog advert for the government's FRANK drugs helpline is a special kind of brilliant" and noted that "In a Home Office survey of [teenage audiences], 83% thought the FRANK adverts were very or fairly effective...surely some kind of miracle."