The Real Cost

The Real Cost is a anti-smoking and drug campaign started by the Food and Drug Administration in 2014[1]. They focus on making anti-smoking and drug public service announcements (PSAs). They also have their own website and YouTube channel, and have over 47,000 subscribers.

Why They Aren't The Real Cost

 * 1) The way they advertise their PSAs. Almost every time you click on a video on YouTube, there is always going to be a PSA about not doing drugs! We already know not to smoke or do drugs, but you don't have to hammer it into our brains!
 * 2) * Additionally, their PSAs try too hard to be edgy and disturbing. One PSA has a football player being pulled by black tentacles just because he did drugs. One of their other PSAs also features a jumpscare with a Facehugger-like creature coming out of a pack of cigarettes and attacking the camera.
 * 3) They also have an anti-smoking PSA series called Little Lungs in a Great Big World, which was just horrible.
 * 4) What's the point in making these PSAs? The internet is filled with a lot of people who do drugs and they will probably not even listen.
 * 5) They disable their comment sections, which shows they can't take negative criticism.
 * 6) Almost every time you visit DeviantArt, you will always see a PSA for The Real Cost or some other anti-smoking initiative. One example is a PSA where a delivery guy holds a box that opens to reveal a pair of rotten teeth or a hand with yellow fingernails. This ad is known as "VyleDelivery."
 * 7) One of their PSAs tries to show us that vaping can lead to smoking cigarettes, and how? By having a guy do a magic trick by removing a vape pen and placing a cigarette in its place. How does this properly convey the message at all?
 * 8) They gave smoking a bad name.

The Only Redeeming Quality

 * 1) Their PSAs are not as cringe-inducing to watch as truthorange's PSAs, but only slightly.