Star Wars' Anti-Drunk Driving PSA Is A Must-Watch For True Fans

The fun of the Mos Eisley cantina from "Star Wars" was featured in a public service announcement (PSA) about drunk driving. The PSA, less than a minute long, features the iconic cantina music. One alien character is shown getting quite drunk, and another alien cuts him off. It ends by saying that friends don't let friends drive drunk. It aired in 1979, and you can watch the entire PSA on YouTube.

Star Wars has a lot of exciting projects coming up, but this PSA shows that even after its initial movie launch it was already spreading to other marketing outlets. This PSA was overseen by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) as a way to use popular characters to send an important public message.

Public service announcements are designed to promote public programs, information, and other activities through media. They do not pay fees to be put on television. As in the case of this "Star Wars" PSA, it was a way for the NHTSA to try to curb the issue of drunk driving by appealing to the popular culture of the time, and hopefully be eye-catching by using the famous "Star Wars" cantina.

"Stars Wars" was released in 1977 to overwhelming success. Only two years later this PSA came out, capitalizing on the popularity of the film. A popularity that's still going strong today, with fans even using 3D printer technology for Star Wars projects. Like the infamous "Star Wars Holiday Special," although obviously not to the same extent, this PSA represents a genuine curiosity for hardcore fans, as it offers an interesting opportunity to see franchise characters and locations in a non-traditional, some would even argue ill-suiting, venue, back in the glory years of the original trilogy.

The '70s was a big time of concern for drunk driving due to there being very limited penalties for those that did so, even if they caused accidents. Drunk drivers didn't necessarily lose their license or have to spend time in jail, even if someone lost their life in the accident. Because of this concern, the first anti-drunk driving organization, Remove Intoxicated Drivers, got its start in 1978. It was in 1980, one year after the "Star Wars" PSA, that Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) first started, eventually becoming the major organization it is today. This growing concern over drunk driving led to the stronger laws and penalties being put in place that we have today.

PSAs got their start during the U.S. Civil War. Early announcements were very much war-focused, including the famous Rosie the Riveter campaign. As decades passed. PSAs took on a more varied and wider focus. Smokey Bear came to tell people to prevent forest fires, and Keep America Beautiful encouraged people to stop littering in the '50s.

Encouraging people not to drive drunk wasn't the only PSA "Star Wars" was featured in. In 1977, there was another PSA with C-3PO and R2-D2. It encouraged parents to get their children vaccinated and was created by the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. In 1978, C-3PO and R2-D2 made another PSA appearance. This time they warned of the dangers of smoking cigarettes. Well, specifically C-3PO was telling R2-D2 why it's dangerous to smoke, since the latter wanted to try it.

Using "Star Wars" iconography for promotional messaging purposes has also gone beyond just PSAs. In 2011, the organization Greenpeace showcased the Volkswagen logo as the Death Star in an effort to draw attention to the car company being accused of damaging the environment.

These are all unlikely to be the last that we see "Star Wars" themes and characters being used for conveying messages to the public outside of simply marketing a product. As "Star Wars" maintains its pop culture prominence, it's likely to continue to expand its reach, with the "Andor" creator even saying Disney is working on a "Star Wars" horror project. Perhaps one day we'll get another new PSA featuring characters or locations from the "Star Wars" universe.