Heartwarming / Public Service Announcement

He ain't heavy. He's my brother.

These Public Service Announcements have messages that will truly warm your heart.

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Examples

• This Japanese PSA about allowing children and young people the chance they need to develop their skills. It involves a class full of students drawing pictures, except for one, who the teacher notices is covering the whole page in black crayon. The teacher tells the boy's parents, and the parents take him to be evaluated by professionals. No matter what anyone does, the boy keeps scribbling away. It isn't until the end of the PSA that it's discovered that all of the sheets of paper on their own aren't what the boy is working on, but are instead supposed to be fit together to make a giant drawing of a whale.
• This Canadian PSA commercial about two childhood friends and one in rehab due to drugs and his old friend visiting him. The song "He Ain't Heavy (He's My Brother)" in the background tilts it into Tear Jerker territory.
• This PSA, where a girl guides her friend through a pledge about Internet safety, is one of the sweetest things ever.
• There used to be a PSA where a couple of gruff businessmen are bulling their way through an airport. One of them runs into a little boy and he spills the puzzle he's been working on all over the floor. Businessman immediately stops, asks if he's OK, and helps him pick it up. Other businessman: My God. Hurry up. We'll miss the plane. Little boy, looking at helpful businessman: Are you God?
• There is a PSA about counting others in that has aired on This TV Twin Cities. It features a handicapped boy who can't participate in a soapbox car race because it would be impossible for him to get inside the soapbox. Another boy decides to stop being in the race to have the handicapped one race. They decorate his wheelchair with fancy stuff and he wins the race.
• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints have a series of 1970s PSAs with moralisms that could be heavy-handed, but at least one is overwhelmingly powerful in its heart. As a narrator describes the world from a child's point of view, a toddler is watching his mother prepare for a picnic, and despite his mother's instruction to wait, he can't resist climbing on a chair to see what's being prepared on a table. While the toddler gets some hot dogs, the family dog comes up for a bite and they accidentally make the table collapse, creating a big mess ("And When your world comes crashing down around you..."). The dog runs off, leaving the child to face his mother's wrath alone ("Even your best friends desert you...") The child is left standing, alone, guilty, and scared (When you're all alone in a tough world like this..."). The mother, having seen the incident, struggles with her frustrations, but when the child tries to flee, she grabs him and takes him in her arms to gently reassure him that she knows it was an accident and everything is alright ("It sure is good to be understood.").
• One "Pass It On" video features a boy sneaking onstage at a concert, just as his parents realize they can't find him, and they go Oh, Crap! when he starts playing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" at the main piano. The pianist comes up to the piano, and whispers to him, "Don't stop. Keep going" and accompanies him with fantastic harmonies, telling him he's doing great. Soon the dad is no longer praying and smiling, and the audience is murmuring in awe at the kindness. They finish with the flourish, the pianist encourages the boy to bow, and the parents give a standing ovation. Best of all, it was apparently based on a true story.
• During a Budweiser commercial that is against drinking and driving, a guy adopts a puppy and raises him into a beautiful Labrador Retriever. They spend all their time together snuggling in bed, swimming at the lake, and driving. When the guy goes out to a party, he doesn't come back that night and his pet worries about him. Fortunately, he returns the next day, explaining that he decided to spend the night rather than drive inebriated. His dog showers him with a million kisses and wags his tail as his human apologizes for the worry.
• Although DOE is highly known for gruesome and disturbing road safety PSAs, this one on the other hand takes a lighter tone. This showcases drivers not to forget about expressing consideration to cyclists such as being seen by drivers, being careful at junctions, and slippery conditions, and paying attention. The ending gets your hearts uplifted.
• While Smokey Bear and the US Forest Service have produced some nightmarish and unsettling advertisements and PSAs showing the dangers of forest fires. They have occasionally made some uplifting, happier, and sometimes humorous PSAs warning guests about forest fires:
  • A short animated PSA from 1974 titled "Thanks from All of Us", shows Smokey and the forest animals thanking the viewer by making the word "Thanks" created with sticks, branches, trees, and flowers.
  • A 1977 PSA titled "I Think I Love You", stars popular 70's singer Vicki Sue Robinson singing to Smokey how much she loves him and thanking him and all that he does to prevent forest fires. The ad ends with Vicki flirting with a live-action Smokey with him responding by gently smiling.
  • Beginning in 1983, the Ad Council and the US Forest Service started creating three advertisements and commercials honor Smokey's 40th, 50th, and 50th Birthdays. The 50th anniversary ad from 1994 titled "Force of Habit" is more humorous and heartfelt at the same. This animated commercial shows forest animals leading Smokey (completely blindfolded) but immediately starts smashing the cake due to smelling fire from a match. However, he removes the blindfold and apologizes to the animals for destroying his birthday cake with some of the animals covered in cake.
  • For Smokey's 40th Birthday in 1983, a short PSA was aired showing a birthday cake while people are singing "Happy Birthday" to him. The ad ends with Smokey (off-screen) blowing out the candles while a narrator thanks the viewer being careful with the forest.
  • A similar commercial was made decades later honoring Smokey's 60th Birthday. This commercial doesn't feature a narrator or people singing. Instead the PSA only features Smokey's birthday cake and shows Smokey's hand torching out the candle stick while an instrumental version of "Happy Birthday" is played. They also made a poster showing Smokey Bear smiling behind his birthday cake◊ while covered in water (hinting that he decided to pour water onto the candles on the cake).
  • Ray Charles starred in a 30-second PSA, talking to the viewer about his love for the forest. However, the entire commercial is set inside a black background (referring to Ray Charles's blindness) with the text "A Personal Viewpoint" while an original jazz song is heard (possibly written by Ray Charles) completely averting Nothing Is Scarier.
  Ray Charles: I like the way the forest sounds. The way the leaves rustle in the wind, fall through the ground, and crunch under your feet. The way the birds sing, and chipmunks chatter. The way a squirrel scrambles up a tree. That's why I'm asking you to please be careful with fire. Because when we lose a forest, we lose a lot more than meets the eye. I ought to know, I'm Ray Charles.
• The PSA "My Heroes," which aired on Halloween in 2017. A family gets ready for trick-or-treating, the children choosing to go as Wonder Woman and Batman. The kids are clearly excited and happy, but the parents, especially the father, seem anxious for some reason, especially when the kids go to the first house. At the end of the video, when the children are tucked into bed, we see why: the boy chose to go as Wonder Woman, while the girl chose to go as Batman. It's very heartfelt since everything went fine, the kids had a good time, and the parents are supportive of their kids' decisions.
• A 2023 PSA against antisemitism starts with a man working on his car in his driveway. He hears his neighbors, a woman and her young daughter, step out of their house. The daughter asks about something she sees and the mother frantically tells her to get into the car. After they drive off, the man walks over to investigate and is shocked to see graffiti of a swastika and "No Jews" on their garage door. We cut to the mother and daughter returning home and the graffiti is gone. The daughter greets the man and the mother notices he has paint matching their garage door on his boot. She mouths a quiet "Thank you".
  • Another 2023 PSA from the same campaign, "Stand Up To Jewish Hate," shows a teenage boy named Isaiah looking at his phone and watching the video he posted of himself singing a Hebrew hymn at his Bar Mitzvah. At first, a few people in the comments congratulate him, but then a bunch of other people begin cyberbullying him and insulting his religion. Isaiah puts his phone down, shocked and saddened by the hate he has received. Suddenly, he gets another notification from his phone: a video message from the musical group Sing Harlem, who say that they were inspired by his prayer and want to use it in a cover, which they do. The PSA ends with Isaiah smiling and silently singing along to the video, with the message being that voices of support are louder than words of hate.
• This PSA against drunk driving from New Zealand starts funny, with a young man at a party noting that his best friend is too wasted to drive and thinking he should speak up, because if he doesn't and his friend dies, then he'll have to do things like hang out with his boring family on his friend's behalf, or his friend's ghost will haunt him forever. The Heartwarming kicks in when he does speak up, urging his friend to just stay the night at the his house... and a second guest chimes in. "Yeah, just crash here!" The drunken friend agrees not to drive.
  • The advertisement is part of a series called 'Legends', encouraging people to not let people drive drunk. A second PSA features two old men warning a group of young men coming home from a party not to drive, and after some comedy, the first old man offers to give them all a lift home. The young men accept.