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Best and Worst PSA's

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote DesertX Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Jan 2011 at 11:35pm
Great timing to bring back this topic.

There have been some bad Ad Council radio PSA's as of late, including Shelter Pet Project's take-off on Lassie, "Sassy". The other one is an anti-litter PSA featuring a pirate character talking about litter, who says "dot-arrrrgh"

If makes you wonder if the Ad Council has run out of ideas.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote MrCleveland Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Jan 2011 at 12:50am
Originally posted by JasonTKD JasonTKD wrote:

That "Cartoon Allstars to the Rescue" special about drugs. Worst PSA ever.
 
Best PSA was one the sneaked into an ep of Batman: The Animated Series, when Batman saves a kid who got his foot caught on a train (the kids were playing a game of "chicken")
 
Batman: "Play chicken too long...and you FRY."


I didn't want to go to YouTubeAngry, but since I HAVE TO make the exception, I saw a parody on "All Stars"....



And here are three PSA's that I saw (And yes, I HAD to go to YouTube to get it)!...





And then there's OG Readmore....


Thank God for kids who love Obscure Things.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote PaWolf Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Jan 2011 at 3:23pm
Big%20smileI know I started a separate thread just for this PSA...but I'm still 'not over it'.
This PSA came out in 2008 - I'd never seen it until I woke up this morning, and now I'm 'damaged goods', but still snickering...
 
 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote smittykins Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Feb 2011 at 1:50am
I'm not sure if this technically counts because it was shown in theaters and not on TV, but I'm gonna post it anyway. Smile
 
 
I think we know just how well that "save free TV" thing worked out.
 
Oh, and while we're on the subject of TV...
 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Grant Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Feb 2011 at 5:28pm
I'm getting into it kind of late, but there's something I don't get about the whole "Don't call something gay" campaign (which I've never actually seen). As far as I can tell (and I hear it right and left), that word has taken on a third meaning. It seems to mean "trite" and things like that, without having a thing to do with homosexuality, in a good way or a bad way. So even though I don't see the "P.C. Police" everywhere I look, this ad campaign sounds like a pretty big case of it. Or heck, maybe not the "P.C. Police" so much as people who just aren't up on their slang!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote JasonTKD Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Feb 2011 at 5:41am
As cheesy as Power Rangers was (or maybe it should be "is" since a new season has started), the show had some good PSAs, like how they used special effects:
 
and this one about not giving up:
 
and this one about not confusing actors with their characters  
 
 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Thor Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 Mar 2011 at 3:02pm
 
 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote hsolo1 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 Mar 2011 at 6:56pm
When I was a kid, that long thin cigarette on horseback scared the crap outta me
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote CheezNapkin Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Mar 2011 at 6:56pm
Best PSA: The Heroin one with the junkie shooting up and convulsing while a catchy upbeat jingle sings "Shoot up some heroin and reach for the sky! Everybody's doing it, doing it! Heroin, for the rest of your life!"

Worst PSA: The one where the kid shoots himself in the face while high.
 


Hilarious for all the wrong reasons.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote smittykins Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Mar 2011 at 10:49pm
Proof that Cookie Monster was promoting healthy eating long before "A Cookie Is A Sometimes Food":
 
 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote JasonTKD Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 Mar 2011 at 5:43am
Originally posted by smittykins smittykins wrote:

Proof that Cookie Monster was promoting healthy eating long before "A Cookie Is A Sometimes Food":
 
 
 
That's no surprise...he eats ANYTHING --almost.
 
CM in a video clip of some radio show: "Okay, sardine ice-cream is where me draw the line. Maybe we can send this to Oscar" 
 
 LOL
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote keyboardplayer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 Mar 2011 at 8:57pm
Originally posted by fusefan fusefan wrote:




Originally posted by keyboardplayer keyboardplayer wrote:

There are two PSA's that I've been looking for for several years that I can't find anywhere on the web. One was from the Ad Council reminding parents to keep their guns locked and unloaded and out of reach of kids. It had a little boy talking about finding his dad's gun and shooting his brother. Very disturbing. 


Holy crap! I thought I was the only who remembers this. I remember they would show some creepy drawings of how he shot his brother "Omar". The ad would begin with a happy family drawing with the kid narrating. "this is my brother Omar." Then the ad gets real ominous with the kid narrating on how he shot and killed his brother with these disturbing crayon drawings of the incident. And the ad would end with the kid crying out "I didn't mean to shoot daddy's gun...I didn't mean to shoot daddy's gun." I saw this ad once late at night back in 2001, and it still gives me the creeps when I think about it. probably one of the most disturbing ads I've ever saw.  


I'm so glad somebody else saw this creepfest of a PSA. I heard the radio version of it. I sleep with the radio playing, and they played it literally at every flippin' break. There was also another version with the same voice where he talks about finding a gun in the drawer and accidentally shooting his baby sister. At the end, he goes, "I made Katie go away. I hate me." I got treated to this thing all night from the local country station. The next night I was dumb enough to have it on the same station, and they played it again. I flipped the channel after that, but all night I kept waiting for it to play again. I had literally nightmares about it for years afterwards. If you could find the video or audio of these for me, I will be forever in your debt.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote EMCEE Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Mar 2011 at 10:22pm
Quote Worst PSA: The one where the kid shoots himself in the face while high.
 


Hilarious for all the wrong reasons.


My God.  I had forgotten all about this one.  I don't understand why they can't just tell the truth about marijuana and what it can do to you.  I mean, the fact that it kills your brain cells and messes up your lungs would be enough for a lot of people to not wanna smoke it.  When they run this bullsh*t, it almost makes me wanna smoke some weed just out of pure oppositional-defiance to the blatant stupidity, even though a couple of hits makes me paranoid as hell.   
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote clamshell Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Mar 2011 at 5:10pm
Suggestion for Worst PSA Ever!
Time Warner Cables' Connectamillionminds.org  This one makes my skin crawl!  The kids from other countries are serious about learning and putting their knowledge to good use.  Our kid on the other hand is just laughing.  Laughing? Not serious about learning apparently.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote fusefan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Mar 2011 at 7:53pm

Originally posted by keyboardplayer keyboardplayer wrote:

Originally posted by fusefan fusefan wrote:




Originally posted by keyboardplayer keyboardplayer wrote:

There are two PSA's that I've been looking for for several years that I can't find anywhere on the web. One was from the Ad Council reminding parents to keep their guns locked and unloaded and out of reach of kids. It had a little boy talking about finding his dad's gun and shooting his brother. Very disturbing. 


Holy crap! I thought I was the only who remembers this. I remember they would show some creepy drawings of how he shot his brother "Omar". The ad would begin with a happy family drawing with the kid narrating. "this is my brother Omar." Then the ad gets real ominous with the kid narrating on how he shot and killed his brother with these disturbing crayon drawings of the incident. And the ad would end with the kid crying out "I didn't mean to shoot daddy's gun...I didn't mean to shoot daddy's gun." I saw this ad once late at night back in 2001, and it still gives me the creeps when I think about it. probably one of the most disturbing ads I've ever saw.  


I'm so glad somebody else saw this creepfest of a PSA. I heard the radio version of it. I sleep with the radio playing, and they played it literally at every flippin' break. There was also another version with the same voice where he talks about finding a gun in the drawer and accidentally shooting his baby sister. At the end, he goes, "I made Katie go away. I hate me." I got treated to this thing all night from the local country station. The next night I was dumb enough to have it on the same station, and they played it again. I flipped the channel after that, but all night I kept waiting for it to play again. I had literally nightmares about it for years afterwards. If you could find the video or audio of these for me, I will be forever in your debt.


They apparently had a TV version of the one you described above also. Thank goodness I never saw that one! (Or heard the radio versions of these.)  And I don't ever intend on looking for video or audio of them either. Thinking about it still bugs me 10 years later.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote keyboardplayer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 Apr 2011 at 7:14pm
I don't know why, but for some reason I want to see it again to see if it would still creep me out now that I don't get scared by most PSA's anymore. Back then when that came out, I was completely scared to death of PSA's, even the stupid ones. I mean like I would be curlde up into a ball when they would come on, except I had a fascination with them. I couldn't flip the channel when an ad came on that I didn't know what it was and then hello, nightmares. Now I analyze them and have been doing this for about three years and I laugh at how they used to scare the crap out of me.

I do have to post that WSM has been playing my beloved Americans For The Arts PSA from 2002 again. It was this mom calling 911 and freaking out because her kid was flapping her arms and legs like she was having a seizure. You could hear music playing in the background and the little girl going "Doo doo doo" very off key. The guy on the phone asked the mom if that was music in the background and she said that she had turned on some music while she was cleaning the house and that was when it started. The guy on the phone said he thought she was trying to dance. Then a creepy PSA voice announcer comes on with the tag, "The less art kids get, the more it shows."

I wish they would put it in regular rotation, but I've only heard it a few times during the Grand Ole Opry (don't laugh). They mostly have their own ads, but around 9:30 or 10:00, there is a gap where they will stick a PSA and this is where they play it. I've only heard it two times since they brought it back, but I wanted to get the PSA director's autograph for bringing this classic back. I wish they'd get rid of some of the other crap the Ad Council is putting out today and play this instead.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote fusefan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Apr 2011 at 12:08am
Originally posted by keyboardplayer keyboardplayer wrote:


I do have to post that WSM has been playing my beloved Americans For The Arts PSA from 2002 again. It was this mom calling 911 and freaking out because her kid was flapping her arms and legs like she was having a seizure. You could hear music playing in the background and the little girl going "Doo doo doo" very off key. The guy on the phone asked the mom if that was music in the background and she said that she had turned on some music while she was cleaning the house and that was when it started. The guy on the phone said he thought she was trying to dance. Then a creepy PSA voice announcer comes on with the tag, "The less art kids get, the more it shows."


Lol. They used to play this one on XM radio talk stations a lot.  I remember the mom would say something like "I've seen dancing and that's not it! "
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote keyboardplayer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 Apr 2011 at 8:53pm
Yup, that's the ad. I'd love to find the audio for this ad.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote keyboardplayer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 Apr 2011 at 9:10pm
Oh, yeah, there was another one from the same time period that used to scare the crap out of me about preventing child abuse. It was pretty much a generic PSA with just a dude reading ad copy, but the opening line of this ad was enough to induce nightmares. The announcer said in a creepy voice, "A stove. For most people it is used to cook with, but for some, it is used to teach a child a lesson they'll never forget." *shudder* Hello, nightmares.

There was another one for high school dropout prevention that was hillarious.
We hear a phone ring.
Woman: Hello, unemployment agency.
(Here a guy starts rattling off about all the video games he has played. I can't remember what he said.)
Woman: Oh, so you're a game programmer?
Man, No, I just play 'em.
Woman: Did you finish high school?
Man: What system is that on?
Woman (sounding like Duh, stupid)" The education system.
Man: Oh, that must be 64 bit.
Woman: Hold on, I'm gonna transfer you to our gaming department. *Click and a dial tone and the announcer comes on with the stay in school speech.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Grant Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 Apr 2011 at 4:18am
I'm sure I'm not the only one, but I've always had a problem with PSA's that use some pretty harmless piece of entertainment as a symbol of something awful, like a W. C. Fields movie clip in an anti-drinking one. Even though I've never been a HUGE Honeymooners fan (as opposed to a casual one), there was a domestic violence PSA that used the "One of these days, Alice!" line. Maybe they meant well, but jeez, that line was always meant to be an idle threat from a character who never hit anyone in the whole series! So did they have to mess with it so that it sounded like something else?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote smittykins Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 May 2011 at 2:25pm

I had this jingle stuck in my head for YEARS(though I couldn't remember the first line).  I even googled "You mind very much if they smoke" before YouTube, and got nothing.  There were longer versions as well, but I haven't been able to find them.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote PaWolf Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 May 2011 at 7:43am
Big smileThumbs UpFinally found 5 of the classic Canadian 'Prevent-It' PSAs slapped together!
Watch in a nice, quiet place where you are not going to be disturbed by noise - like the library, or, if you are am attending doctor, maybe in the operating room...
 
...and then, for fun...here's some newer ones...
 
 
 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote PaWolf Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 Jun 2011 at 11:44am
Confused 
Mom ~ the Jailbird
 
 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote smittykins Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Jun 2011 at 6:51pm

 
Typical YouTube comment:
 
"Sex lasts for a moment?  Not if you do it right." Wacko
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote crainbebo Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Nov 2013 at 6:27am
Been a long time and I had to dig it out! But I'd like to talk about my creepy PSAs... (they are newer than those 1970s/80s things...)

First around 2008 or so there was a really creepy radio PSA that aired very late at night on my soft rock station. It was for Childhelp (child abuse prevention) - answering machine with this man saying "I'm not answering because I'm abusing my children. I'll get back to you." Then there's that high-pitched "BEEEEEEP" of the answering machine and then a woman, who sounded kind of creepy as well, said "If only abuse was easy to recognize..." Nothing I really wanted to be woke up by at 2:30 in the morning! And a loud beep to boot!

Just last week I heard a creepy SAMSHA PSA on another soft rock station (said station has Delilah, and is NOT replacing the national, raw feed of PSAs with local ads...) with what sounded like bottles breaking and some weird music. SAMSHA is for substance abuse prevention.

Best PSAs in my opinion are the Smokey Bear ones, I also like the Feed the Pig ones as well.
And then there's this classic...it aired for years! Last time I saw this was probably around 2004. Because trees *are* terrific!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3bTVkoUIGw
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