This is the age of the slogan, the soundbite, the snappy phrase in place of considered argument. Thought is dying; reason’s gone critical. In bookshops and magazine racks we’re told only what we want to hear: we’re told it in neat, bullet-pointed affirmations of our own worth.

No more. This is the fightback. The resuscitation. This is the slogan as explainer of the world. One a day for a year. Three hundred and sixty five phrases, soundbites and bullet points with which to make sense of the way things are now and point to how things could be tomorrow. Read them and weep.


Tuesday

11. Winners don't abuse drugs

You do want to be a winner, don’t you? How can you not want to be a winner? Everyone wants to be a winner. Everyone wants to win. The slogan used to read “Winners don’t use drugs” – it was pioneered in the 90s by the FBI as part of the US Government’s War on Drugs and appeared on the opening and closing screens of video games through that decade. Except, at some stage, someone realised that winners were using drugs. Winning athletes, winning rock stars, winning actors, winning politicians... they were all at it. Success and drug use, it seemed, were easy bedfellows, or at the very least kissing cousins. So much so that statistically, at least, there was a good case to be made for the link between winning and drugs to be a positive one. Winners do use drugs. Hardly the right message to send to ver kids, though – especially not the sort who spend their money on Golden Axe, Donkey Kong or Street Fighter. So, quietly, with a minimum of fuss, “use” was upgraded to “abuse”. Fair play, they seemed to be saying, some winners do use drugs. We can’t argue with the numbers. But what they don’t do is abuse drugs. They know what they’re doing. They can handle it. Because they’re winners, right?
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