Fact Check

Is This a 1970s Anti-Marijuana Ad?

"I came for the album cover and stayed for the music."

Published April 8, 2020

 (Shutterstock.com)
Image courtesy of Shutterstock.com
Claim:
A photograph of a naked man and woman with a French horn was part of an anti-marijuana ad.

A popular social media trifle is a black-and-white photograph of a naked man playing a French horn while sitting astride a naked, rear-facing woman resting horizontally on her elbows and knees. The picture is said to depict an "anti-weed ad from back in the day" and bears a caption declaring "THIS ISN'T NORMAL. Unless you're addicted to Reefer Cigarettes. Then it happens all the time":

This post is just a jape, however, that has nothing to do with marijuana or anti-drug advertising. The photograph seen above is actually a de-colorized and cropped version of the cover of "Front to Back," a 2013 CD of reggae-influenced music by the musical group Wasnatch:

Wasnatch's entry on SoundCloud describes the group as follows:

Sprouting from the Wasatch Mountains in Northern Utah, Wasnatch is Reggae music from the land of Zion. Wasnatch will rock the house till the foundation shakes. Lyrical geniousness, deep bass and drums steeped with heavy guitar and melodic horns take control of of the scene, raising the vibration creating positive limitless love vibrating throughout the universe.

The truly curious can explore the Wasnatch Facebook page or experience some of the group's music on Spotify or YouTube:

David Mikkelson founded the site now known as snopes.com back in 1994.