The 10 Most Disturbing PSA's From Around the World
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.








Wow I did not realize that HOMO-sexuals (which I guess is how it was pronounced in the '50's) "demanded" sex with men. Live and learn.
Reply#1 third world style cgi right there.
Reply"That's right, viewer: a baby is a menacing, screeching parasite that, if allowed to exist, will destroy your world."
ReplyObviously, the author of this piece has never had a baby. I have two kids, and can say that Every. Damn. Word. of that is true.
Of course, provided you have the means and/or support, you can rebuild a NEW world which can be absolutely amazing! After all, that "menacing, screeching parasite" of a baby can grow up to be a terrific kid. :)
That is, if you don't mess it up and have a kid before you're ready. And that could be at any age, BTW.
I'm in support of anything that means people have less kids.
OK the anti-smoking PSA's just go to show that everything in Australia is f*****g terrifying!
ReplySo Ausfailia can show stuff like that but Mortal Kombat 9 is illegal? Way to go...
The seatbelt one was actually pretty good. i found it very effective.
ReplyWTF Canada?! Those "Accident" commercials scared the crap out of me
ReplyI had to change the channel every time they came on, especially the chef one.
sweet god why the hell must those exist?
ReplyI live in Canada and I remember when those were on TV. They were on CONSTANTLY. It reminded me of Final Destination.
ReplyA better Anti-Suicide Bombing PSA would involve the bomber in the afterlife finding out that the 72 virgins are all fat, ugly basement dwellers.
ReplyFamily Guy did it.
With the Canadian safety ones, I think the last one was the most unsettling. I mean, they're at a funeral when all of a sudden, the casket opens. And then they all just sit there. The fuck? I'd run away. Fuckin' zombies, man.
ReplyI don't understand the point of a PSA to discourage people from wearing seatbelts
ReplyWonder if any of those people for the VD PSA thought it was for something else?
ReplyMaybe VD = Van Damme?
These were all great except for the teen pregnancy one. The point isn't that the kid will ruin your life, it's that your stupid decision to have unprotected sex will haunt you forever. And it might. Just saying.
ReplyThey probably could have run an ad that look just a little less like a SNL parody.
The newer anti-smoking campaigns in Australia are f*****g disturbing, like this guy coughing blood and the cancer-riddled organs on packets of smokes.
ReplyWe watched the Canadian "accident" commercials at the restaurant I used to to work at, and as scary as they are it quickly became an inside joke at work. Someone would f*ck up and a coworker would just go, "...this was NO accident!" or whoever messed up would say "The company should have [insert something relative to the situation here], and I really should have known better than to [insert stupid thing they did here]"
ReplyIt really says something that governments have to produce PSAs telling people not to strap explosives to themselves. And that message is: Man people are f*cking messed up!
ReplyI'm confused as hell about the anti-masturbation PSA. Having looked at their website and its whois info, the organization is based in Cyprus (Nicosia) and has an Indian founder (Dada Vedaprainanda). So...why is half the text in Hebrew?
ReplyI'm betting the #1 disturbing PSA would've been the old "Hate Hurts You" ad with the exploding guy that scared so many kids when it was on if it could've been located.
ReplyDUDE, some of those montana meth not even once psas are sketch as hell too. well, not so much sketch as really creepy and unsettling...like the one with the kids watching tv and normal and stuff then you see one of them OD-ing on the floor and it pans back to show all the same kids doing meth and being zombified as hell.
ReplyI think they had a seperate article for that
I actually agree that "accidents" are generally just because of a series of bad decisions, but I think I learned that without the zombies telling me why...
Reply