Public Service Announcements

[Cramulus]

There's something about state sponsored PSAs which make the thing they're demonizing look WAY COOL.


anybody who grew up in the early 90s has seen this one, with or without the ninja turtles

"I'm no chicken, you're a turkey!"



One of the best things about PSAs is that they often involve hornswaggling some celebrity who's hard up for cash. Pee Wee Herman, for example, doesn't strike me as the best spokesman to tell kids to stay off drugs.





This one's kind of interesting. It's an anti-drug PSA aimed specifically at african americans. "Drug abuse is the new slavery."



Who doesn't love Captain Lou dressed up as Mario?
"If you do drugs, you go to hell before you die."
^{Unrelated - but if you haven't seen it, you really must experience Captain Lou on the super mario brothers super show. Intro with captain lou rapping - Outro with captain lou singing.}


In the 80s, a lot of cartoons got away with being a pretty violent show because they had a Moral at the end. (the animaniacs parodied this with their Wheel Of Morality) Some of those GI Joe PSAs were pretty out there!

[Suu]

I have got to find the CD of the PSA I did in college.

"PAC: People Against Crackheads"

[BADGE OF HONOR]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFr30p0aZl0&playnext_from=TL&videos=ARhRXA8zCjg

[Thurnez Isa]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEGywhma69E

dare you to try not to laugh

[Cramulus]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFr30p0aZl0&playnext_from=TL&videos=ARhRXA8zCjg

hahahah that one was worth watching all the way through.

related: Cautionary Tales of Swords

"Swords are not just decoration! They'll fucking cut you wide open!"
             /
"Swords will fucking slice a baby in half, swords will fucking cut your hands off"
           /

[Dalek]

http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/nostalgia-critic/34-nostalgia-critic/473-top-11-drug-psas

[AFK]

The best ever PSA is the one I'm writing right now!!!

But you'll have to live in the greater L/A area of Maine to hear it. 

[AFK]

PSA's have evolved quite a bit from the 80s.  These days we recognize them as one tool in the larger toolbox we now call social marketing.  In my field, there has been more and more emphasis over the years to make sure everything we do is evidence based.  And I mean everything.  Federal and state funding pretty much requires it across the board.  So you can't just crack an egg in a pan and call that a PSA anymore, unless you have some kind of research that it makes a difference. 

So, pretty much any PSA you see today, is most likely based on some kind of researched social marketing model that proves it has an impact on the intended audience.  Again, that is if it was created with federal or state dollars.  Back in the 80s, it was basically whatever you thought would make a splash on the TeeVee. 

[Cramulus]

that's interesting. I suspect that most of the 1980s era PSAs were put together purely because TV stations were required to broadcast these things as some kind of penance for showing tits and guns 23 hours a day. "TV is evil... so let's make a law tha tyou have to use it for good now and then."


I've been fascinated by the anti-cigarette movement which uses the bright orange "Truth" branding.

All their commercials frame not smoking as some kind of rebellion against the dominant order. A lot of their commercials show kids organizing these culture jams and public pranks which startle smokers. There are materials on the website you can download or order so that you can stage your own Truth Protest. Friggin weird, right? Well it does turn out that it's the most effective anti-smoking camapaign yet.

Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No" movement was totally ineffective. Because you can't get a kid to stop doing something by explaining to them why they shouldn't do it. That just makes it cooler.



^
tell me this ad doesn't reek of being funded by phillip morris. Do kids even use the word "whacko"? This is intentionally poorly designed.