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The 10 Most Disturbing PSA's From Around the World

By Ian Fortey March 26, 2008 463,630 views
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What better way to raise awareness of an issue than through a nice Public Service Announcement? And what better way to get people to pay attention than to make your PSA batshit insane?

Here are 10 that will probably haunt your dreams.

#10.
Masturbation and Your Pet

The people at TakeTheAction.com are out to stop masturbation. The website lets us know that if we agree with the following statement, "I see successful people and want to become like them. I understand that I spend most of my time in masturbation and that they don't," then they can help us. If that didn't convince you, perhaps their "animated with magic marker and typing paper" PSA will:

Most Unsettling Moment:

No question, it's the moment 30 seconds in when we realize the subject's masturbation has killed his dog, in some unthinkable way. So we can make fun of TakeTheAction and their quest, but seriously, if masturbation is preventing you from leaving the house and has killed even one animal, please do seek professional help.

#9.
Workplace Safety is Terrifying

Canadians love themselves some safety. It's right up there with beavers and mounties as things they can't get enough of. But as any beaver rustler will tell you, sometimes things get out of hand and the shit hits the fan. Luckily the Workplace Safety and Insurance board is here to watch out for workers by scaring the living shit out of TV viewers on a regular basis.

This series of 5 commercials run any old time on Canadian TV, scarring young and old alike with their quick and frank depictions of horrible atrocities befalling random workers.

The message? Everything is somebody's fault, dammit. Probably YOURS.

Most Unsettling Moment:

Nothing tops the lady's melted face in the first spot, implying that the restaurant was boiling a soup pot full of that toxic waste from Robocop.

#8.
AIDS and Gay Porn Cartoons

French people apparently live on an entirely different plane of reality than those of us in North America, as evidenced by this PSA for preventing AIDS that makes just short of absolutely no sense whatsoever in any language.

Though the meaning may be lost, it's clear that horrifying things occur in France. The idyllic Sims world of our hero is shattered by witnessing a knife fight which apparently turns him irrevocably gay. From there it's on to a string of man-love encounters, cartoon-like violence, a man fighting a dog and then a full body cast brought on by an intense round of our hero being hate-crimed before his doctor molests him.

Most Unsettling Moment:

The animated anal boner-spin (at 1:30) almost takes the top spot, but we're probably going to have to go with the two young lovers riding the Bonercoaster (one of the penis-themed amusement park rides that we heard are common in France) one minute in. At one point the car is covered in an enormous condom, which implies that somewhere down the tracks they're going to be riding right into a gigantic, possibly diseased, orifice.

#7.
VD is for Everybody

Educating the world about the dangers of venereal disease is serious business. We can hardly have a functioning society if half of us have to stay home washing and rewashing our ass beards with crab shampoo while the rest of us are running all akimbo through the streets in a syphilis-induced state of dementia. We'd be no better than France. On the other hand, setting the concept of every bright, smiling person in your neighborhood being riddled with disease to a lazy waltz with catchy lyrics may not be the best way to let everyone know of potential dangers.

By showing the pregnant lady, your child's teacher, the guy handling your food at the store, the librarian and a baby as filthy, pox-laden cesspools, the Ad Council may have just managed to make any impressionable viewers deathly afraid of any and all human contact.

Most Unsettling Moment:

We thought this ad had hit the bad taste apex 40 seconds in when the diseased man emerged from the water with his seven-year-old lover. Then, it tops itself just six seconds later when "VD is for Everybody" plays over the face of a smiling infant. In our opinion, no sex is safe at that age.

#6.
The Homosexual Scourge

The '50s were an enlightened time when film really took off as a tool to educate and inform. One of the most important topics that needed to be covered for the benefit of all young men was, of course, the danger of the homosexual. The homosexual, like Bigfoot, is apparently a singular, mythical beast only seen by lone travelers who have strayed from the pack. Also like Bigfoot, the homosexual will give young athletes rides and be incredibly friendly the entire time before taking them back to his den and infecting them with homosexuality.

Most Unsettling Moment:

A minute in, after the homosexual has lured innocent young Jimmy into his den of sickness, we see the homosexual driving away. Alone. We cannot see into the car to see if the homosexual has killed Jimmy and made a suit out of his skin, but we must presume that he has.

The one that really just makes me cringe is #4. I used to do stuff like that and it never bothered me. Course watching someone do it then fall onto a glass case and get cut to hell probably would make anybody cringe.

9/22/2009 2:31:33 PM
Victorblud

I think the restaurant accident aired in the us. I am sure Ive seen it before. then again Alot of our TV and radio stations up here broadcast across the border. I even hear Helix on the radio once in a blue moon.

9/17/2009 5:37:35 PM
aurochs

Sad part is the 50s video would be pretty relevant if they'd just take out the whole h**o thing and replace it with pedophilia warnings.

8/21/2009 10:27:27 PM
Kindahuge

if you thought teen mommy darci was bad, you should look up the amusement park one they bombarded us with a few years back. ill never be able to reclaim my lost childhood.

8/16/2009 8:23:20 PM
Baconator96

So I noticed on #1 around 55 seconds top right corner there is a circle that looks remarkably like the symbol for the umbrella corporation from Resident Evil. Just thought I should point that out.

8/4/2009 10:46:27 PM
Trebek

I don't know if anybody's mentioned this yet but if you go to Youtube and try to watch that french PSA about AIDS (And it's companion the 'straight' version) it's marked 18 or over.

Am I the only one who is sort of pissed off by that? I mean, it's a PSA clearly directed at young people, and some a*****e came along and thought, "Oh no! What if my daughter or gay son watches this and realizes that you should always have a condom when having sex? *Le gasp!*"

Whether or not that PSA was crazy demented isn't even the issue! f*****g PRUDES!

7/24/2009 8:48:04 PM
orypeci

Does anyone notice that the guy in #6 (the '50s "Look out for the gays" one) sounds an awful lot like Mister Rogers?

6/10/2009 1:06:01 PM
Karstovich

How trhe heck is the AIDS one confusing? The article implies it makes no sense, but the point is pretty clear...

3/30/2009 12:46:28 PM
Cervidanti

God, I remember those Safety PSAs, I always got freaked out whenever I saw that chick's melted face. I haven't seen any of those newer ones that everyone's talking about though.

3/7/2009 9:34:17 AM
n64player

i live in australia so i have seen #4 lots. but now we has one that involves all the other smoking adds together into a more disturbing one in my opinion.


ps slighly zombie looking. also in #9 number 3 when got pipe in him

3/2/2009 5:30:50 AM
tissmekyle

i live in australia so i have seen #4 lots. but now we has one that involves all the other smoking adds together into a more disturbing one in my opinion.


ps slighly zombie looking. also in #9 number 3 when got pipe in him

3/2/2009 5:30:38 AM
tissmekyle

When I was in New Zealand, they had a disturbing series of PSA's called "It's not the drinking, it's how we're drinking." Here's probably the most disturbing one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiL5aAu4d30 There's also one that sort of alludes to rape, but I can't find it right now.

2/18/2009 9:54:10 PM
kalachimera

"That was no accident"; that's not true. Somebody is responsible for it, but it's still an accident, because it wasn't intentional.
And "sex only lasts for a moment"? Only if you're bad at it... (or so I have heard).

2/18/2009 1:44:10 PM
Aquila89

Where's the LSD 1960's propaganda one?

2/7/2009 2:06:23 AM
Sandi

I was really scared and freaked out with that Smoky the Bear one. WTF??

1/24/2009 8:44:04 PM
dahwang12

I've seen all the Canadian ones (being from Canada myself), for me though, it has to be about 26 seconds into that creepy smokey the bear PSA. You only catch a second long glimpse, but the image is horrifying.

1/23/2009 3:31:27 AM
Atlatl

What 'bout the UNICEF smurfs? google it. that is messed up on the scale of somma theses

1/2/2009 9:52:40 PM
Dreyfus_Ashby

in the suicide bombing one, i dont think the kids foot is in that shoe. Because he had his shoe off for some reason. Just sayin'.

12/27/2008 5:38:46 PM
I-x3-Snickerz

holy s**t. the canadians are f*****g creepy... that whole commercial was like a 30 second horror flick where you're on the edge of your seat just waiting for the chick to burn her face off... that seriously was fucked up.

12/15/2008 2:54:09 PM
Mysticnyx06

the burning oil psa was absolutely horrifying commercial I've ever seen and should have easily taken the #1 spot

12/12/2008 10:47:09 PM
Sev Squad
Cracked stuff on