Winners Don't Use Drugs is an anti-drug slogan that was included on all arcade games imported into North America for 11 years from 1989 to 2000. The slogan appears on a screen that is shown during a game's attract mode.
The messages are credited to FBI Director William S. Sessions, whose name appears alongside the slogan. Sessions reached a deal with American Amusement Machine Association president Robert Fay through which 20 arcade manufacturers agreed to include the slogan in their games. The slogan made its official debut on January 10, 1989, when three major games that included the slogan were shown to the press. A similar campaign called Recycle It, Don't Trash It! was launched several years afterward. Although Sessions's tenure with the FBI ended several years later, the slogan continued to be included in newer arcade games. It has since become a symbol of arcade gaming in the 1990s.
The slogan has been parodied various times, such as in the Xbox Live Arcade/PlayStation Network title Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game, saying "Winners Don't Eat Meat."
Famous quotes containing the words winners and/or drugs:
“The two real political parties in America are the Winners and the Losers. The people don’t acknowledge this. They claim membership in two imaginary parties, the Republicans and the Democrats, instead.”
—Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (b. 1922)
“If we became students of Malcolm X, we would not have young black men out there killing each other like they’re killing each other now. Young black men would not be impregnating young black women at the rate going on now. We’d not have the drugs we have now, or the alcoholism.”
—Spike Lee (b. 1956)