Video: Say no to crack, yes to roller rink

RENO - A commercial going viral on YouTube tells kids to say "no" to crack and "yes" to a Reno roller rink.

The 90-second spot was developed free for Roller Kingdom by comedy duo Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal, who create campaigns for quirky local businesses as part of their "Commercial Kings" TV show. The commercial had nearly 240,000 views on YouTube by midday Friday, four days after it was posted online.

"I'm kind of an out-of-the-box guy myself. So I was all for it," Roller Kingdom owner Brad Armstrong told KRNV-TV.

The campy video features a drug dealer offering pills to a boy, a man trying to lure children into a van with candy, and a motley crew of gang members inviting kids to spray paint under bridges. The children tell the bad guys to "Bug off, man" - they'd rather be roller skating.

While disco lights and lasers sweep over the rink and 1980s-style synthesizer music plays in the background, children with toothy grins tell the camera they'll say no to meth and "reefers." At the end, the spurned drug dealer proclaims in dramatic fashion: "Man, this Roller Kingdom is really putting us out of business!"

It's not the first foray into Nevada for McLaughlin and Neal, whose show airs on the Independent Film Channel. They're the same comedians who developed an offbeat tourism spot last fall for Tonopah, a 2,500-person town on a lonely stretch of U.S. Route 95 between Reno and Las Vegas. That commercial shined a spotlight on the town's eccentric offerings such as a clown-themed motel, antler art and paranormal happenings.

For Armstrong, whose website touts the rink as "Reno's hottest spot for family fun," there's some truth to the jokes in the video. "Roller skating has been a very beneficial part of my life," he said. "Not only am I in the business now, I probably avoided a lot of things they portrayed in the commercial by roller skating."