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.
#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.
I am a straight chick and I think the Homosexual Warning was one of the most offensive things I've ever seen in my life! I understand that this was from a different time, but I hate that the man was called "sick". Imagine if gays called straight people sick.
ReplyThe ads from #9 also closely resemble another Canadian PSA I've seen that's meant to cause awareness of the problem of spousal abuse. There's a couple of them: one concerns a waitress who is bad a pouring coffee, so the man angrily takes her coffee pot and pours it on her chest and face. Another is a woman giving a presentation at work, something on the presentation screws up or one of the male coworkers disagrees with her, and the man slams her head into the table. I guess the message is you wouldn't do all this in normal society, so you probably shouldn't do it to your wife.
ReplyThere's another series of work safety PSAs as well, where a narrator tells the sad story about a neglected inanimate object, such as a discarded mop bucket, an exposed nail, some duct tape on a heating pipe, or a ladder with a bent step. The stories inevitably end with the object deciding they'll no longer be ignored, or have cracked under pressure. The commercial cuts to black (usually with the sound continuing) just before the horrendous injury actually occurs, but it seems just as bad because we've been made to care about the object that caused the horrendous injury. And they are EVERYWHERE.
#1 The explosion is from the movie Swordfish. Look up"Swordfish Explosion," you'll see. Dunno if it means the ad is fake or if the producers are cheapo.
ReplyAt about 32 seconds in to the suicide bomber video you can hear a Star Wars blaster sound effect. Damn Skywalker sound effects are everywhere.
ReplyJust about everyone who has lived very long has been one step or one move away from a disaster. About 35 years ago I was working in a Chevrolet factory in Los Angeles (putting bolts and trim on bumpers). I moved back and forth between a work table and the assembly line. By fortunate "accident" I was standing at the assembly line when a badly stacked set of bins containing automobile fans crashed onto the work table. Ten feet closer and I would have been mincemeat.
ReplyOh God I remember the workplace safety commercials. They always seemed to play late at night too, like some kind of cruel joke. Like, want a good night's sleep? Well, f**k YOU I'm going to show you an image of Sally McMeltyface now. Sweet dreams!
ReplyI like that this article pointed out that not all young mothers are "white trash". I'm 19 and pregnant, and that stereotype drives me crazy.
ReplyI was engaged before I got pregnant, its not a shot gun wedding if you found out about the pregnancy a month before the wedding. I'm not on any type of government assistance program, my fiance works full time and is in the union. I work part time while going to nursing school.
There are plenty of women older than me with unwanted children, a dead beat dad and nothing but a welfare check, so tell me...where is the Meth Mom Darcy PSA?
To be fair, "19 and engaged" is a little different than "14 and horny"
You're obviously very articulate, and you seem very well off and happy. The teenage moms from MY hometown are a testament to the stereotype. No job, no future, no plans, and it just kind of feels like they've stopped caring about anything other than relying on other people. Shudder.
I never realized Harvey Dent's cousin was Canadian...
ReplyI went to the Masturbation link on the first one.
ReplyI haven't laughed so hard in days.
Honestly, the ones that creeped me out the most in that series of Canadian workplace ads were the construction guy and the electricity one-that guy SAT UP IN HIS f*****g COFFIN with his electrocuted look. That's the stuff of nightmares, right there.
ReplyThe suicide bomber one's pretty disturbing, too, and, as pointed out, kind of pointless either way.
The teen mom thing just seemed like an SNL skit.
ReplyDo they really need an anti-suicide bombing PSA? I know it happens, but if someone has gotten to the point, psychologically, where they'd actually be willing to blow themselves up I doubt a TV commercial is going to make them have a last minute change of heart. It's not like suide bombers only do it because they've forgotten that bombs kill people.
Unless they don't understand explosions.
Actually things have gotten so bad in Iraq that it's not just a physchological thing or even a terrorist thing sometimes. Terrorists will approach regular citizens and promise to pay them large sums of money if they blow themselves up in this, that, or the other place. Since there's zero job market in Iraq and traditionally people in the Middle East have larger families (read: more mouths to feed), they'll take that risk that they may be able to support their family because they're just so desperate. The terrorists lie, obviously, but a PSA about suicid bombing may actually work to talk someone down or at least get them to think about it. So though it's targeting what's probably a small demographic, it's still not "pointless either way."
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.
ReplyOh, they do. And if you don't give it to them, they'll take it.
They'll just take it.
#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.