Twitter Backlash Is Forcing Washington State To Remove This Anti-Marijuana Billboard

The Department of Health in Washington state will be taking down an anti-marijuana billboard today following backlash on Twitter. Earlier this week, Mike Faulk -- a journalist from St. Louis -- tweeted a picture of the billboard in Yakima, Washington that reads, "We don't need pot to have fun. We're hispanics...we're cool by default." 

https://twitter.com/mike_faulk/status/889891202832748544

The tweet sparked immediate backlash against the Department of Health for living up to its unfortunate acronym (DOH). Many felt the campaign's decision to single out and stereotype one ethnic group was offensive to hispanics. Others thought the message was offensive to anyone with intelligence. 

 
Some played with the ad's logic, wondering if it was actually promoting cannabis consumption among non-Hispanic people.

https://twitter.com/chri5jb/status/890429653873295360

And a lot of people were simply offended that their tax dollars were wasted on an inept anti-cannabis campaign. 

So they took it out on the usual suspect -- America's marijuana-hating attorney general.

https://twitter.com/brian480480/status/889946369439526913

But the health department took the blame for the campaign. Well, most of the blame. DOH spokesperson Julie Graham told the New York Daily News that the ad was designed by the department in consultation with about 60 local kids who were asked to help get the message out to their Hispanic peers.

In other words, they threw those 60 kids under the bus. Or that's how the explanation came across to some critics, at least.  

So the billboard has become so toxic, even the damage-control campaign is backfiring. And as though things weren't bad enough for the DOH, they also got shown up by the opposition.