I learned it by watching you!

"Like Father, Like Son", also known as I learned it by watching you!, was a large-scale United States anti-narcotics campaign by Partnership for a Drug-Free America. Launched in July 1987, the campaign used a televised public service announcement.

The PSA features a father confronting his son (Reid MacLean) in his bedroom after finding a box containing an unspecified controlled substance and drug paraphernalia. After his father angrily asks him how he learned to use drugs, the son shouts, "You, alright?! I learned it by watching you!" As the father recoils from realizing the error of his own ways, a narrator then intones, "Parents who use drugs, have children who use drugs."

It was listed by Time as one of the top ten PSAs of all time.^[1]

In popular culture[]

Much like another anti-drug PSA, This Is Your Brain on Drugs, this campaign has been parodied multiple times.

It was parodied in a 1996 Mad TV sketch with a mother and father confronting their teen daughter named Kathy about her cotton swab addiction. The teen admits that she got her addiction from her parents.

It was parodied in a 2005 episode of Robot Chicken episode "Toy Meets Girl" as a sketch called "Watching You" where the son screams at his dad that he learned about crossdressing from watching his father.^[2]

It was parodied in a 2006 episode of Scrubs episode "My Déjà Vu, My Déjà" in a fantasy sequence where J.D. finds a coffee maker under Billy Dorian's bed. Asking where he got it, Billy tells his father he learned it from watching him.

It was also parodied in the April 2007 video game Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney. During the cross-examination of Kristoph Gavin in the first episode, Apollo says in internal monologue: "Who was it that taught me never to pull punches in cross-examination? It was you, Mr. Gavin! I learned it from watching you!"

It was also parodied in a December 2007 Xavier: Renegade Angel episode "Pet Siouxicide." In the episode, Xavier extracts Native American blood from an Indian burial ground and injects it into an oil baron. Later, the oil baron is seen injecting himself with Native American blood. When Xavier asks him where he learned to do that, he replies, "From you alright, I learned from watching you."^[3]

It was also parodied in the May 2011 The Cleveland Show episode "Your Show Of Shows." In the episode, Rallo breaks his hand while trying to break a board practicing for the school talent show. When Donna asks him what made him think he could do it, he replies, "I learned it from you, Mom! I learned it from watching you!" with an announcer saying "Parents who do karate, have children who do karate."

It was parodied in the December 2011 film The Cabin in the Woods. In the film, the character Jules, played by Anna Hutchison, is asked by her boyfriend, Curt, played by Chris Hemsworth. who told her about her sociology texts. "From you, all right? I learned it from you!" she screams, and stomps off.

It was parodied in a 2012 commercial for Kraft Macaroni & Cheese called "A Father's Lesson" where the father asks his son where he learned to skim mac & cheese with an announcer saying "Parents who skim mac & cheese, have kids who skim mac & cheese".

It was parodied in a 2016 Studio C sketch "This Song Is My Jam". In the sketch, parents confront their child over his dubious taste in music, only to learn that he developed his preferences based on what they listen to.^[4]

See also[]

• War on Drugs

References[]

External links[]

• The original PSA as rebroadcast in I Love the 80s.
• Official PDFA website