There is nothing subtle about the new billboards towering over Cincinnati’s highways. In big, blunt lettering, they command drivers to “Say the F Word.” The point is not to shock for shock’s sake, but to force people to say the word fentanyl, and to confront the surge in counterfeit pills that a local family says is quietly killing their neighbors.
The signs are the work of the Quehl family and their nonprofit, the Jack Quehl Foundation, which is using the attention-grabbing campaign to spark conversations they believe could save lives. The message, they say, is simple: name the real threat and stop pretending it is not in the room.
As reported by WLWT, Stephanie Quehl, president of the Jack Quehl Foundation, put it plainly: “My biggest fear is him being forgotten.” The outreach began after their son Jack, a Moeller High School graduate, died after taking what the family and police say was a pill laced with fentanyl. Police told WLWT that the weekend Jack died saw one of the highest numbers of overdose deaths tied to pills. The family has said the billboards will soon include more context and specific resources for people looking for help.
Who’s Behind The Signs
The billboards are an extension of the work done by the Jack Quehl Foundation, which operates as DoItForJack and uses Jack’s story in school and workplace presentations. According to DoItForJack, the group has reached about 19,000 students and parents through presentations and media outreach. The foundation also runs peer programs and scholarships, and it pushes for more fentanyl education and legislative change in Ohio.
Those efforts are aimed at the places where young people actually are: classrooms, campuses, and community spaces where a single risky pill can be written off as no big deal, until it is.
Why The Blunt Message
National data show that synthetic opioids such as fentanyl are now the primary driver of overdose deaths in the United States and a leading cause of death for people aged 18 to 44, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Counterfeit pills often look exactly like legitimate prescription medications, but can hide wildly unpredictable, and often deadly, doses of fentanyl.
That lethal mix of familiarity and uncertainty is why the Quehls say soft language is not going to cut it. If pills that look “safe” can kill, then the messaging, in their view, has to be impossible to ignore.
What’s Next
The family told WLWT that the billboards will be updated with more context and specific ways people can get involved or seek help. Behind the scenes, DoItForJack is continuing to schedule talks across Greater Cincinnati, keeping Jack’s story, and the warnings tied to it, in front of as many audiences as possible.
Schools, workplaces, and community groups that want a presentation or resources can find contact and booking information at DoItForJack.
