An Australian anti-marijuana featuring a stoned sloth is drawing attention for all the wrong reasons.

The #stonersloth campaign from the New South Wales government depicts a stoned sloth failing in class and messing up at the dinner table, is being mercilessly ridiculed by social media users.

Many are predicting that because sloths are cool among young people, the campaign character may be perceived as more loveable than pitiable and it will have the opposite effect of steering young people away from marijuana.

stonersloth.com.au "When you realise you should have hit the books and not the bong": One of the sloths from the Stoner Sloth campaign.

It even attracted the attention of Premier Mike Baird, who tweeted: "Just saw the #StonerSloth ads. Not sure where NSW Gov's ad guys found Chewbaccas siblings, but those videos are... Quite something.

READ MORE:

* 'Splitting hairs' over cannabis

* Medicinal cannabis likely in New Zealand by 2016



Another social media user suggested it would not be long before ironic T-shirts were printed and worn with pride.

Several people noted that it was even more hilarious if you were stoned when you watched it.

The NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet and NSW Health launched the campaign which a spokesperson said was created by an external advertising agency and "informed by research conducted by the National Cannabis Prevention and Information Centre.

"It was designed to be shareable among young people who are some of the most vulnerable to cannabis use and to encourage them to stop using before they become dependent," the spokesperson said.

"They have used our name to cover this campaign ...We are going to ask them to print a retraction that it is based on work that we did," said centre director Jan Copeland.

"NCPIC was not consulted on any of the creative elements of this campaign," Professor Copeland said. When contacted for a comment about the campaign she said the inquiry was "the first we have seen or heard of it".

Professor Copeland said the centre was asked to provide an overview of the research supporting cannabis public awareness campaigns this year, but its recommendations were very general. "We stressed the importance of testing the key elements with the target audience and to be honest with young people and avoid sensationalism".

"Using this kind of character is ...likely to have an effect other than those that were intended," Professor Copeland said. "Associating a sloth with people being intoxicated may convey a positive appeal to people being intoxicated rather than the intended negative message."

The campaign message is "You're worse on weed". It has a website, www.stonersloth.com.au, videos, GIFs and pages on Facebook and Tumblr and comes with helpfully shareable hashtags including #stonersloth, #fail, #examfail, #baked, #stoned and #embarrasing (with embarrassing mis-spelling included).

The sloth falls asleep in class and in exams ("When you realise you should have hit the books and not the bong"), confuses salt for salad at the family dinner table ("Stoned at dinner and the struggle is all too real") and is the guy at the party people take selfies with because he is so out of it ("When your mate turns into 'that guy' at the party").

"We know that younger audiences respond more to campaigns highlighting the short-term consequences of their actions", she said.

Professor Copeland said there was clear scientific evidence that regular cannabis use in adolescence has a negative effect on academic performance.