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Song for Charlie: fentapills and Real Talk About Fake Pills

Also: No Random Pills! · Real Talk About Fake Pills · The New Drug Talk · La Nueva Drug Talk

“No random pills!”

Family-led nonprofit founded in 2020 by Ed and Mary Ternan after their son Charlie, 22, died from a counterfeit Percocet made of fentanyl that he bought online. It popularized the word 'fentapill' and runs peer-to-peer youth education (the Real Talk About Fake Pills film and assemblies), a parent program built on the 27-minute film The New Drug Talk, Spanish-language materials (La Nueva Drug Talk, the film La Estrella), social video PSAs with Snapchat, and TV PSAs. It also organizes National Fentanyl Awareness Day.

Years
2020–now
Country
United States
Coined
fentapill
Topic
DrugsOpioids
Asks people to
Never startRecognizeTalk to someone
Strategy
Coined termTestimonialTrusted messenger
Channel
EventsSchoolSocial (organic)Social (paid)TVWebsite
Audience
ParentsYoung adultsYouth
Teens and young adults who might self-medicate stress or anxiety with pills from friends or online; parents; Spanish-speaking families; an African American initiative is listed on the site.

Evidence

NoneUnknown

No outcome evaluation found (no PubMed or OpenAlex record; see docs/opioid-campaigns-literature.md). The organization describes its programs as 'evidence-based' without citing an evaluation. Snap reported the joint Snapchat video campaign was viewed over 260 million times by October 2021 (reach only).

Sponsor (who paid)

Credits (who made it)

  • Public Service Network Media, 2026 source

Executions (individual ads)

Related campaigns

Sources

  1. Our Story (Song for Charlie) sponsor
  2. National Fentanyl Awareness Day, April 29 (Song for Charlie) sponsor · 2026
  3. How Snap is responding to the fentanyl crisis (Snap, 7 Oct 2021) sponsor · 2021
  4. Our work to raise awareness of the dangers of fentanyl and help people who are impacted (Meta, 9 May 2023) sponsor · 2023
  5. ONDCP elevates DFC youth voices during Primary Prevention Month with new partnerships with Major League Baseball and Song for Charlie (White House, 28 Aug 2026) sponsor · 2026

Research notes

Discovered 2026-10-22 for #17. Credits checked 2026-10-22 against fetched pages: Public Service Network (uploaded and labels the Song for Charlie TV PSAs on its YouTube channel; role inferred as PSA distribution). No creative agency named on any page found. Founding year 2020 is inferred from the EIN (85-) and the story page; confirm. YouTube execution years left out where the upload date could not be read. The California DHCS-funded parent hub (2023, per Meta) may deserve its own state case; flag for the California state agent. In August 2026 ONDCP announced a partnership with Song for Charlie and MLB to amplify youth-made prevention PSAs.

Record cases/song-for-charlie-fentapills.json, updated 2026-10-22· Link to this campaign