THROWBACK PSA: Back in the 70s, R2-D2 Had a Smoking Problem (VIDEO)
A hilarious PSA from the 1980s showed us the dark side of beloved Star Wars droid R2-D2 – namely, a smoking habit that caused an intervention by C-3PO.
In the 70s and 80s, America was finally confronting the dangers of smoking, especially among children. Kids found that cigarettes were easy to get back then – not only were more parents smoking (making it easy for a kid to swipe one), you could even buy cigarette packs from vending machines.
That led the United States Department of Health and Human Services to create an anti-smoking PSA starring Artoo and Threepio, which was released in 1983, while Return of the Jedi was still in theaters. The commercial featured Threepio (voiced by Anthony Daniels) finding Artoo smoking a cigarette, which led him to explain the dangers to humans from smoking. C-3PO convinces R2 to set a good example for humans by not smoking, and the droid complies by dropping the cigarette.
Here’s the Star Wars PSA.
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