Page A3 / The Joan De Arc Crusader / Wednesday, December 25, 2019
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When we were "Too Tough to Care"

By J. Bueker

     One of the premier highlights of my junior high years at Sahuaro School was the extraordinary series of health-class propaganda films with which my classmates and I were regularly bombarded. These audio-visual delights were carefully crafted to discourage an array of undesirable adolescent behaviors ranging from substance abuse to inappropriate physical contact with the opposite sex. While the overall effectiveness of the films remains doubtful, their unintentional entertainment value has endured undiminished to this day.
     For two solid years, we were treated to such timeless classics as Keep off the Grass, The Pill Poppers, and VD: The Hidden Epidemic. These were all decidedly unsubtle scare films that typically culminated in either the acquisition of a highly embarrassing medical condition or the mass arrests of stoned teenagers. Interestingly, the stories tended to instill quite the opposite of their desired effect, inspiring mirth, or worse a newfound curiosity about pursuing those very activities. Amused at first, we gradually came to regard the films as preachy, routine, and ultimately fairly predictable.
     But things were never quite the same again after they showed us Too Tough to Care.
     Too Tough to Care was a genuinely unique offering in the health class propaganda-film genre. Here was an anti-smoking educational film that was deliberately and expertly designed to be entertaining and funny. The film employed relatively sophisticated irony and satire to deliver its anti-smoking message, which was aimed squarely at the misleading tobacco advertising of the day. Too Tough to Care was actually a very clever and skillful attempt at undermining teenage resistance to the anti-smoking curriculum.
     Produced in 1964 by the Marin County Medical Society, Too Tough to Care is 18 minutes of well-focused and purposeful silliness. The narrative revolves around the efforts of a fictional tobacco company executive and his PR man to devise an effective advertising campaign for their Finster cigarettes brand in the face of emerging negative publicity about the unhealthy effects of smoking.
     The men struggle to concoct a viable tactic for casting smoking in a favorable light, at one point pondering, “Couldn’t we just tell everybody that lung cancer is good for you?” After several false starts, the pair stumbles upon the successful formula of portraying Finster smokers as rugged he-men who are simply “too tough to care” about the grim consequences of their habit, complete with a very catchy little jingle.
     It was love at first sight. The presentation of Too Tough to Care was nothing less than a watershed event for my 8^th grade class at Sahuaro. An absolute sensation among my peers and myself, the film exerted a powerful cultural impact on us for the remainder of the school year. 
     “I’m too tough to care” instantly entered our daily vernacular and became a ubiquitous catch phrase for all occasions. “Yeah, I failed that math test today, but hey, I’m too tough to care!” Of course, none of this had anything to do with the goal of discouraging us from smoking, an activity in which few of us were actually interested in the first place. Too Tough to Care was perhaps the ultimate example of a health-class propaganda film gone awry: the thing was so well done and entertaining that its anti-smoking ideas were completely lost in the ensuing hilarity.
     The film was an impossible act to follow. Too Tough to Care rendered any further health-class proselytizing of no practical relevance whatsoever, as our collective reaction to any such finger-wagging had now been reduced to a simple, “Okay, but we’re too tough to care about any of this.” The humorously fanciful conceit of being “tough” had so thoroughly permeated our mutual consciousness that it was absolutely pointless to pursue these issues any further. With Too Tough to Care, we had transcended the health class propaganda-film milieu forever.
     So when it came time that spring to select our class motto for the Sahuaro School Class of 1972, the choice couldn’t have been more glaringly obvious. Not only did we overwhelmingly vote in “We’re too tough to care” as our motto, but it was damn near unanimous. We simply couldn’t conceive of a more fitting expression of our class ethos and attitude in general. It was perfect.
     Unfortunately, the administration and faculty at Sahuaro were not the least bit amused and they were not having it. Principal Boyer solemnly announced that our choice clearly did not constitute an appropriate sentiment for a class motto, and therefore the stupendously insipid runner-up in the voting would get the honor: “Today’s experiences build tomorrow’s successes.” Gag.
     So much for democracy. Of course, in the aftermath of our universal surprise and bitter disappointment, we were left with little choice but to simply reiterate our real class motto: “Oh really? You don’t like our motto? Well we’re too tough to care!”

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________JDA

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