History NightmareFuel / PublicServiceAnnouncementsHealth

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQHd96-jHdU The last ever PIF made by the British Central Office of Information]]; a group of girls are leaving a party; one of them is holding a bunch of balloons; she accidentally releases the balloons, they fly up and catch on the scaffolding of a construction site across the street; then a dramatic voice says "Stand Back!"; they turn and see... ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}! ([[{{Expy}} Well, sort of]] -- the ad was released to coincide with the release of the film ''Film/{{Daredevil}}''); DD proceeds to climb the scaffolding in a series of leaps, but as he reaches the top he slips and falls; when he hits the ground he's just an ordinary teenager; the voiceover says, "Too much alcohol makes you feel invincible, when you're most vulnerable."

* [[http://youtu.be/XwdUXS94yNk Fragile Childhood]] asks "How do our children see us when we've been drinking?" Apparently, they see us as [[HairRaisingHare a monstrous anthropomorphic rabbit]], [[DontFearTheReaper a Grim Reaper]], [[EverythingsDeaderWithZombies a zombie]], a MonsterClown, [[BadSanta a sketchy, half-dressed]] SantaClaus, and a criminal in a stocking mask. As if the costumes weren't bad enough, the last one is buckling his son into a car seat and his wife is there with him, and remember, he's been drinking...

* '''But That's Not Your Problem... OrIsIt?''': This campaign, broadcast in the 80s, shows people who snort cocaine prior to going to work to emphasize how dangerous the drug can be.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PBB2dXbCXA "Crack"]] starts off with a dark background as a female narrator asks "Ever wonder what a bag of crack looks like?" before what appears to be a bag of crack slides into view with an ExtremeCloseUp. The camera then zooms out to [[RevealShot reveal]] that it's a body bag on a stretcher as the narrator informs the viewer that in the last two years, over five thousand Canadians and Americans have died from using crack or cocaine.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AegsJYtwccw A terrifying PSA from 1970]] was [[OlderThanTheyThink very much the first example of a]] ScreamerPrank. It showed a wind-up monkey while a young girl's voice intoned, "They say, that people addicted to heroin have a monkey on their back. Isn't that cute?" Right as she finishes, the camera zooms into a freeze-frame image of a real monkey screeching at the camera, with the text "Why do you think they call it DOPE?".
* A 1969 PSA from ''Phoenix House'' shows a young man, eyes closed, stretched out on a table with a sheet over his waist. The camera slowly does a side pan over the body from the head downward as you hear the voiceover saying that heroin gives the person a ''calm, relaxed feeling, like you're floating, etc''. Suddenly, the table moves forward with the sounds of wheels, revealing the man is in a morgue, as the table, revealed to be a body slab, rolls into the morgue drawer, followed by the slamming of the metal door (with echoes). ''Phoenix House. Before it's too late.'' shows up at the bottom of the screen. Short and brutally effective.

* '''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mn2TidrfY6o Lenny]]''': This 1996 PSA shows a Heroin addict named Lenny who describes what is like when he first tries the drug, lists the damage that it did to him and says that he could break this habit promising that one year later he would be a success story; all the while he still directly takes the drug. It is saying something that this video is a somewhat censored one (the first time wasn't completely shown and the second time isn't shown at all) and while this PSA didn't show it, he was asked to do another video one year later Lenny didn't show and his family has never heard from him again.
* '''But That's Not Your Problem... OrIsIt?''': This campaign, broadcast in the 80s, shows people who snort cocaine prior to going to work, to emphasize how dangerous the drug can be.
** [[https://youtu.be/LLnAvV5Zpz0 One]] shows a man waking up and getting ready for work. He shaves and then kisses his wife before opening a cabinet, taking out a bag of cocaine, and snorting some. Directly afterwards, it's revealed that he works as ''a pilot'', as he puts on his hat and begins to leave.

* [[https://youtu.be/p8HOD0ttHmE "Family"]] seemingly starts out normally as three teenaged boys ring the doorbell of a home, but once the wife answers, the one guy violently shoves her down while he gives orders to the others to take what they can, another belts the husband in the face and then screams at the terrified little girl who cries out for her father. As in the "Sisters" ad, [[FacialHorror dark undereye circles and awful sores suddenly appear on the boys' faces]]. Worse, when the trio finally leaves, you can see that the woman is still lying motionless on the floor. Perhaps most terrifying is their excellent use of ParanoiaFuel: what ''if'' those innocent -looking teenage boys at your door are really just robbers looking for drugs?

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlQ3p08A4CY&ab_channel=MethProject In "Boyfriend"]], a teen girl lies on a bed in her underwear, as an older man zips up his pants and walks out the door of their motel room. In narration, the girl says, "I love my boyfriend, we've been together since like eighth grade. He takes care of me." As the older man exits, he hands something (presumably a bag of Meth) to the girl's boyfriend, who stands outside of the door. The boyfriend enters the room and inspects the bag of Meth that the man gave him, as the girl cringes and weeps.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heLqs-QYw7M "Just Once"]] shows a teenage girl saying that she will smoke meth, steal, sleep with a man for meth, just once, all while we see her do the following. We then hear an ominous tune playing while we see the teenage girl lying passed out (at least we ''hope'' she's only passed out) on the bed while we see her little sister staring at the camera and telling the viewer that she will be trying meth just once.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xw0RO6kBOFU&ab_channel=drewcrosby "Tracks"]] shows a girl breathing heavily and panicking while we see shots of her snorting cocaine, smoke meth, and get ready to inject drugs while we also see a photo of two children, as we see the panicking girl running on the train tracks and taking off her coat, and eventually getting so exhausted she can't move as an oncoming train is about to hit her.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5FXoEjEmNw&ab_channel=MethProject "ER"]] begins with an uncomfortable close up of a girl lying on a hospital bed while we hear a voice over say that if she had asked herself if she would become an addict if she tried meth, or if you could "really lose it" on meth. The camera backs up, and we see her screaming and thrashing around while the paramedics try to keep her still. It's then revealed that the voice over was not the girl, but her friend. She watches her get taken into the ER, then leaves. It then cuts to her getting into a car immediately afterwards, asking a fellow meth user for another hit.
* [[https://youtu.be/xGeFIkKa3SU "That Guy"]] shows a teenage boy telling his friends that he is going to try meth once and not end up like "that guy". We hear him say the same sentence while looking more nervous while we see someone use a lighter on a meth pipe. We then hear him [[SuddenlyShouting suddenly shouting]] the same thing thrice while we also see a shot of him with plastic tubes in his mouth. We then see a girl in a dark place telling her friend the same thing as that boy said, only this time the "that guy" in question is the same teenage boy, now a drug addict, sitting on a dirty sofa.

* [[http://youtu.be/aWZ_Dvnfhd8 Faces]]: Another PSA shows eerie close ups of people's faces sweating. The sound effects are already scary enough, but the shocking part is when the text explains that [[{{Squick}} feces and urine are released in the sweat of people addicted to heroin, as the body's ability to effectively process waste chemicals is severely damaged by addiction to the drug]].

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzFRUjG-vVs "Cannabis Episode: Stylish Guy? Foolish Guy!"]]: This ad, aired in Christmas season, starts out happy with "Silent Night" playing in the background. Then the ad flash-cuts to disturbing visuals of a bunch of teenagers getting high on cannabis at a holiday party, in which a high school boy becomes addicted after trying it for the first time. As a consequence, he becomes worn out and the ad cuts to him being escorted to a prison cell. The caption reveals that not only did the boy end up in prison for criminal offenses but also ''became mentally ill from drug abuse and was detained at a psychiatric facility''.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zDX9PXkotA This PSA made by the State of California during the]] UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic consists of a camera slowly panning to someone hooked on a ventilator, while the onscreen text warns the audience that even if they don't experience symptoms of COVID-19, they could still spread the virus, and that their mom, grandpa, or friends could die from it. It ends with a message asking people to wear a mask to stop the virus's spread. It doesn't help that the only sound heard throughout is that of the ventilator.

* [[https://youtu.be/ec6EJWIQC0E This]] PSA starts out subtle and normally with a pretty woman who has a fashion/personal video {{blog}} where she talks out various items of clothing she bought and just how happy she is with her life. Throughout the video, however, she mentions how tired she is and after taking a blood test, it's discovered that she has [[MoodWhiplash breast cancer]]. Afterwards, she continues with her blog, only this time it's focused on her illness and her continued physical deterioration. After it is discovered that her condition is apparently now terminal (complete with an occasionally heard [[ScareChord "vacuum suction"]] soundtrack heard throughout), she turns off the camera.

HIV and AIDS-awareness adverts understandably generate plenty of NightmareFuel. It not as though the public needs another TragicAIDSStory, right?

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVlrDu8BNl8 This PSA]] (NSFW) from the French AIDS organization Sidaction portrays several naked people cavorting. It then cuts some of them plummeting downward, all deprived of color, signifying their bodies succumbing to AIDS. It then zooms out to reveal that the people are inside of a huge hourglass, orgy in the top half, mass grave in the bottom.

'''Creator/MichaelClarkeDuncan:''' I don't care if you're rich or poor, young or old. I will come after you. I will hit you so hard, you won't know what day it is. You'll want to scream for help but you won't be able to. I'll cripple an arm or a leg, or maybe, just maybe, I will kill you. I am a stroke.\\

* [[https://youtu.be/qNkzVz5Aljk One PSA]] from UsefulNotes/{{Canada}} from the Heart & Stroke Foundation showed the two perspectives of an elderly man, one of him enjoying his life at home and the other of him languishing in a hospital with everyday activities mirroring one another from different viewpoints. The end shot of both scenes has his wife lying her head on his shoulder; while the former has her savoring the tender moment with their family, the latter has her weeping over his state.
* [[https://youtu.be/7mSceRPcvZY Another PSA]] from the Heart and Stroke Foundation has a man, from first-person perspective, sitting at home with his family as he then suffers a stroke. We see his wife and daughter's terrified reactions as they summon help for him, but he is eventually seen in a hospital, on his way to recovery. There's [[https://youtu.be/ZDhzCIi0_wA another ad]] that is possibly even scarier than the first one, because this time it's from the first-person perspective of his wife, allowing us to witness the man's physical effects from the stroke.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAkvHc1Wj-U&ab_channel=StrokeFoundation This one from Australia]] shows a man describing a stroke as a "silent killer", all while he reveals a brain on a plate. He talks about how a stroke is UsefulNotes/{{Australia}}'s 2nd biggest cause of death, and that strokes can result in brain damage, all while he stabs the brain in the part where people get the ability to talk. He then reveals two more brains and talks about how a stroke can also obliterate your brain, as he smashes one of the brains with a hammer, thankfully shown offscreen, with the dramatic music coming to an abrupt stop. The last line of the ad pulls no punches: "So ends the lesson... ''and your life.''"

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBe_vFGgIHY This collection of Japanese CMs]] starts off as a regular info-talk show where the host discusses about cholesterol and arteriosclerosis, and the importance of getting a check-up for these diseases. Cue sudden MoodWhiplash when the host himself suddenly experiences chest pain and collapses. The other endings show other people collapsing instead: one of the mascots, a studio audience member, a cameraman, and someone watching TV at home. The last two are especially terrifying because they happen in [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou first-person view]].
* This [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmxhZ7pLRLo Australian PSA]] about a heart attack victim is both haunting and melancholy. A man lies in a hospital bed with his eyes looking directly at the viewer and his mouth open, while a long beeping EKG sound in the background implying that he has died. The scene then changes to the man seated in his dark, empty home, talking about subtle symptoms he felt but ignored like shortness of breath, jaw pain and chest tightness. He ends up looking sadly at a picture of his family, expressing his regret for not recognizing that he was having a heart attack.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56reHSPxxts A disturbing heart disease PIF]] from The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industries starts with a family that has a dinner consisting of chips, fatty meat, onion rings, and other unhealthy food. The whole PIF is a montage (made out of sped up/slowed down clips) of the family eating their dinner and drinking, smoking, watching TV, and laughing, plus a few clips of gravestones and their family dog. It ends with the dog leaving the house, upon which the camera zooms out, revealing that the house is actually a mausoleum with graves from the previous occupants. After this comes a black screen with "180,000 people DIE (larger then the rest of the text) every year from heart disease. The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industries". The music -- {{horror}} film music, strange sound effects and rips of 80's music -- doesn't help at all.

* [[https://youtu.be/ShVFkjgNZ5I One PSA about Childhood Asthma]] had a kid talking about what an asthma attack feels like, along with clips of a goldfish who has been taken away from its tank and is trying to get oxygen. Sure, at the end the fish is placed back in its tank, but the concept of the ad is very disturbing.

* Autism Speaks' 2009 ripoff of "Taming the Crippler", "I Am Autism", included such lines as:

"I will bankrupt you for my own self gain."\\
"You will cry, wondering 'who will take care of my child after I die'."
:: : This went over like a lead fart even with some cure-autism types. It's still notorious among autistic people, who create [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yU2paLv1MGE parodies]] showing that the real horror is not autism, but Autism Speaks, which ''has no autistic people on its board of directors''. The PSA was pulled but you can still see a [[http://autisticadvocacy.org/2009/09/horrific-autism-speaks-i-am-autism-ad-transcript/ transcript]], and for those who are more daring, it can be viewed in its entirety [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UgLnWJFGHQ here.]]

* [[https://youtu.be/whr-cxjfTwo An Ad Council]] PSA from the early 2000s has some [[CreepyCircusMusic creepy calliope soundtrack playing]] as we see a letter spinning around slowly in an acid-colored vortex as a voice-over tauntingly asks us to identify it, "Am I a '''"p"'''? Or a '''"d"'''? A '''"q"''', perhaps? Or a '''"b"'''? ''[chuckles]'' I am dyslexia and millions of kids struggle with me."

** She looks down at her stomach, mortified, and begins to cry. The words "How your child feels about her body is up to you" appear on the screen, and the video ends with the sound of Gretel vomiting off-screen, as Hansel turns around, concerned and confused. The video isn't particularly frightening by itself, but the message is that you, as a parent, could be influencing your child to develop an eating disorder, without even realizing the impact your words are having.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ooxcs2yB3kA A public information film from Belgium, made in 1998]] shows a brick wall that zooms out showing a face with a brick wall instead of eyes. There is eerie music in the backround and the narator says (in Dutch) "Don't be autistic torwards autism." After that you see a black screen with the name of the association (Vlaamse Vereniging Autisme) and the tagline: Time to break the wall of indifference. The narrator says that the number you can call them.

** One was a black-and-white ad from the late 1990s featuring an infant crawling out ''in the middle of a busy highway'' where several cars are speeding by and can easily hit or run over the child. It was made to illustrate the level of peril that a woman goes through to ensure own life and the life of her child, even as early as the third week of pregnancy and how careful she must be in her condition.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1hx3kmfWvQ This]] UK ad from 2001 about blood donation shows a man talking about how blood donation is not just used for emergencies; there are many people who need it whether they are giving birth, cancer patients etc. but there are not enough people giving it. Except that while he's talking, he's slowly being drained of blood, and the ad ends with him staring straight at the camera with [[UndeathlyPallor deathly pale skin and lifeless eyes]] with black circles underneath them.

* [[http://youtu.be/raMabDzN12s This]] Scottish ad for organ donation is chilling to say the least. A young girl named Jill stares at the camera smiling. A woman's voiceover asks the audience if they would like to use their organs to save someone's life and that they have thirty seconds to decide. The girl's stare gradually becomes more unnerving as her face slowly sinks into the shadows while the voiceover asks if Jill should die, then waits for five seconds before deciding for the audience: Jill will die. Two similar [=PSA=]s repeated the process with a woman named Clare and a man named Dave.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfHgPEL_stg&ab_channel=ChuckD%27sAll-NewClassicTVClubhouse This one from the Ad Council]] shows a man falling into cold icy water while we see another man rushing to save him, all while an announcer tells us that every year thousands of people die waiting for organ and tissue transplants and asking the viewer to be a donor. The announcer then tells us to tell our family now, and they can carry out your decision later, otherwise, it's like throwing a 12-foot rope to someone who is 15 feet away, as we see the man throwing a rope, with the drowning man unable to reach and plunder into the water. The music doesn't help wonders.

--> '''Narrator:''' Estas son las dos caras de un mismo problema. Cuando tomás alcohol en exceso, el alcohol te toma a vos.[[labelnote:Translation]]These are the two faces of the same problem. If you drink too much alcohol, it will take [control of] you.[[/labelnote]]

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfcZhzIGcq4 This advert from the Queensland Government]] opens up with showing a girl being assaulted in the middle of a dark alleyway. The creepy-sounding female narrator says, "63% of teenagers have been abused or assaulted, asked under the influence of alcohol". The scene then plays out in reverse, showing all of the events in descending order that led up to the girl's fate, including drinking heavily at the party. The last scene shows the girl's father handing her a box of beer, and the camera focuses in on the beer's brand logo, which reads, "Don't Kid Yourself". The narrator ends the ad by saying, "Don't kid yourself. Buy your children alcohol, and they could pay the price."

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lW-BlbZvms Another Swedish PSA]] warning against drinking alcohol while pregnant shows us the inside of a mother's womb with a creepy-looking CGI fetus, with club music and people drunkenly giggling in the background. It's implied the mother is also drinking at the party, and as the alcohol travels through the umbilical cord to the fetus, we see it tense up slightly as the mother's heart rate rapidly increases. A message then appears saying, "Your unborn baby has the same blood alcohol level as you. You have a choice. ''Your baby doesn't.''" Sure, it's more tame compared to the other examples listed here, but the unsettling ambience over the upbeat background music as well as the sound of the mother's heartbeat still make this ad rather creepy.

There exists a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfXhCqbB-V8 sequel]] to this one, in which a group of kids find the creature in an eerie place that resembles a greenhouse, only of it to ''attack one of them in the mouth, which causes all of them to scream and run''. Just like the school one, it crawls back into a box of cigs. The fact that it takes place in what looks like a night time setting doesn't help at all.\\\
If those two weren't enough, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnHydQ94Z_Y the creature got its own spot]] and it's ready to attack. Run like hell indeed. The dark setting along with the JumpScare doesn't help either. Banner ads also pop up for The Real Cost on Website/DeviantArt. Several include the creature in them. Age limit notwithstanding (the website is for ages 13 and over), that website is frequented by people as young as 11 years old.

* [[https://vimeo.com/167046135 This one]] has a teen signing a contract letting someone (or something) have control over her life. Then, she lets go of the paper, and it rolls back into a cigarette. The very idea of doing this is unnerving.

* "Little Lungs in a Great Big World" is a series of stop-motion animated shorts in a world populated by lungs, starring the titular Little Lungs. If the realistic nature of the lungs' designs doesn't scare you, then there's the fact the Little Lungs goes through ''all sorts of life-threatening situations due to his below-average size'', and the other characters ''barely bat an eye at this or try to help him''. The worst of the bunch is probably [[https://youtu.be/a-93ovGgDWs "Snowboard"]], which has the Little Lungs getting impaled on a deer's antlers, spraying blood and causing his eyeball to fall out of his head, dangling off the optic nerve. You can also watch the entire collection of shorts [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Av85RPj5k4U here.]]

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSkz6KLTsFM A boy named Will]] tries to open various doors, but all of them are locked except for one. When he enters in the room, the door suddenly closes in on him.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2trZDPDWm0 Another boy named Rashid]] bangs on multiple doors, screaming for somebody to let him out, and also crying out for Gabby. He starts running and screaming, although what makes him run is left unknown.

*** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zfKayQeujg The 15 second edit]] shows what happens to some of the teens, including being plugged to a hospital bed and bathing in ''blood and guts''. Rashid finally manages to get out, where it's revealed that he actually walked away from a group of smoking friends.
*** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QNIGQnd7Wc The 30 second edit]] reveals how they got inside in the first place. They walk into an abandoned hospital where they see a window pane with blood reading, "Only One Leaves". Will suddenly appears on another window, screaming, "RUN!" as they take off. It ends the same way as the 15 second edit does.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKm1wuoC6ro There's also a 7 second ad]] that just shows them trying to run out the building.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_th5U5hRu8k Another ad]] shows several old photos of Terrie as she reminisces on her teenage years, talking about how she had a lot of friends, was a cheerleader, and was on the homecoming court. It then cuts to footage of her in the hospital sick with cancer as she says that it breaks her heart to see teenagers smoking, [[WhamLine because she started smoking when she was a teenager.]]

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEDpJTTDZP8 This ad]] shows a compilation of older photos of Terrie Hall as a teenager as well as newer footage of her with cancer. It is also accompanied by a speech by Surgeon General Luther Terry in 1964, where he announces that cigarette smoking has been deemed a health hazard by the committee and urges the United States to take remedial action.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y70V5HGhpHs&feature=emb_logo This disturbing 2014 ad]] features a man named Brett who reveals that his excessive smoking led to him contacting gum disease. Bad enough, but the real scare is after his advice (''"My tip to you is... your smile says a lot about you"''), in which he takes his false teeth off to reveal his mouth's current condition post-smoking. It's... not pretty, to say the least.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdmI35elnCQ&ab_channel=CentersforDiseaseControlandPrevention%28CDC%29 This one]] shows a man named Roosevelt, who never thought that at 45-years-old he would have a heart attack due to his smoking, never thought that smoking would stop him from playing basketball with his kids, and never thought that he would get a scar on his chest, as we get to see an unsettling close-up of his scar. His advice is to do your heart a favor and quit now.

* In the early 2000s, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF469S7pYow an anti-smoking ad]] featured a [[ItMakesSenseInContext cigarette on trial]], all done in {{claymation}}. The cigarette would say about how he killed aunts, uncles, and parents while the jury would gasp and react in shock. And if that wasn't scary enough, the camera would cut to a close up of the cigarette's face, ''[[BreakingTheFourthWall looking at the viewer]]'', saying "And if you light me up, I'll kill ''you'', too." It also didn't helped that it aired late at night.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9MC41hVXgw "Trapped"]]: The audience is treated to the disturbing scenes of ''people trapped in burning cigarettes'', with screams constantly heard during the PSA. At the end, one person manages to break free, as the phone number to quit is displayed on-screen.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PswYlIbcnOU "Day of the Dead"]]: This ad, targeting Latino smokers with the theme being the Day of the Dead, begins with the date of "Dia de Los Muertos", with a shot of a sugar skull. But then it shows other days of the year as the Day of the Dead, displaying shots of more sugar skulls. Then the voiceover tells the audience that every day is Day of the Dead for the tobacco industry. Right after this, the PSA cuts to the shot of an ''actual human skull'' staring at the viewer. The PSA also ends with the quitline's phone number on-screen.[[note]] The linked video cuts after the phone number, but the original cuts back to the shot of the actual skull.[[/note]]
** [[https://youtu.be/tWazJghW0VY?t=54 These series of secondhand smoking PSAs from 1990]] has two family members in eerily lit sets resembling various rooms inside houses, with one person smoking. The second person starts waving away the smoke, but then starts progressing to coughing up the smoke themselves. All throughout, an even creepier background music intensifies until it reaches a LastNoteNightmare at the tagline, "Smokers aren't the only ones who smoke."

* RAT's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsNMeHenFSA Candy Factory]] has a [[Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory Willy]] [[CharlieAndTheChocolateParody Wonka]] {{Expy}} take children on a tour of his candy factory... except the Oompa-Loompa expies [[SoundtrackDissonance cheerfully sing]]: "''If you try these goodies, you surely might die!''". Right off the bat, you know there's something ''not right'' with the factory. And then the kids find out the candy factory is actually a ''cigarette'' factory, while the owner suddenly grows sinister and lets out an EvilLaugh, as the cheerful music takes a turn for the worse. Granted, it ends on a positive note where the kids wisely reject his products and a somewhat amusing logo, but if the owner and Oompa-Loompa expies weren't scary enough, kids would likely be turned off by the freaky [[NightmareFace Nightmare Faced]] cherry mascot and the creepy way the cigarettes wiggle at the end.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prRreTezpNk&ab_channel=easportsbig899 This one from the British Lung Foundation in 1996]] shows a man in an eerily lit hospital coughing up his lungs, obviously suffering from cancer or another lung-related disease. The way this was filmed and the black and white effects are disturbing. And yes, it received a U rating despite all this.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbExGY3aHH0&ab_channel=TheHallofAdvertising This one from 2007]] begins with a man hearing some noise inside his fridge. Then, we find out that there is a creepy looking raw turkey with a moving mouth holding a cigarette, as the man catches the turkey smoking. The turkey tries to lie and say that he isn't and puts the cigarette in a jar of mayo and attempts to convince him that he is making a sandwich instead, and coughs up some dust. The man closes the door as we see a tagline saying that you can't rely on cold turkey alone.
* NYC Health's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCzbEVlnovE "Painful Cancers"]] starts out creepy with unsettling x-rays, then instantly gets much worse. This PSA shows off photos of some of the worst things that can happen to you as a result of smoking, and it's horrific. The gruesome surgery images are the worst of it. It's no wonder that Love The PIF put this at the top spot of his Top 50 Scariest Anti-Tobacco [=PSAs=] video.

** There's one entitled [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQf-vzbPw-g 'Promised Land']] in 1989. A narrator 'welcomes' viewers to ThePromisedLand as a couple waves goodbye to a passing car from a hilltop place. They begin smoking the cigarettes. The man puts away the cigarette packaging while the narrator explains that cigarette smoking looks cool on the surface. As he says 'take another look', the sky turns dark and stormy (so does the cigarette pack, along with a skull-and-crossbones appearing) and the couple coughs non-stop as the music turns dramatic. Then it is revealed they are at a cemetery, the guy puts the cigarette pack on a tombstone, and the couple walks slowly at the camera while funeral pyres burn in the background. The cig pack falls from the tombstone and is burned along with funeral money.
** Another one from [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D58hnzzheL4 1995]] contrasts the narrator's sweet talk about the 'fame' you'll get from smoking against unnerving images of a hospital, x-ray, a toilet, and eventually a funeral, all while Broadway-ish music plays. The jerky camera movements don't help. The female backing vocals singing "You will never be coming back" at the end are accompanied with a rather haunting echo.

** Another 2000 ad from the same campaign, entitled [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgZ4OA9fsAA 'Smoking Drill']], is even darker and more disturbing, taking a page straight out of a dystopian novel. It depicts a [[NightmarishFactory nightmarish, dystopian factory]] that not only produces cigarettes but is also giving those cigarettes to teenagers, who all seem to be held hostage. At first, the teenagers find it rather cool, even showing off in the mirror and [[BlowingSmokeRings blowing smoke rings.]] But then things take a turn for the worse when one of them passes by ''a live, rotting pair of lungs,'' and now he is wearing an oxygen mask, struggling to breathe. The same teenager then gets hit by a ball rolling on a conveyer belt, culminating in him [[VomitIndiscretionShot puking directly on the camera!]] Then, a creepy-looking surgeon with a drill starts drilling stomas into the teenagers' necks as they are now bound to wheelchairs, succumbing to the illnesses caused by tobacco smoking. The PSA ends with the teenagers wheeling themselves out of the factory in a single-file line into a grimy post-apocalytic wasteland.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPBQII5c9fw One 2013 ad]] from the Cancer Society of UsefulNotes/{{Finland}} for their "Ash Babies" campaign depicts a pregnant woman setting up and decorating a nursery in her house. It sounds normal and innocent at first, but the horror starts to kick in when the woman sticks pins into the baby mattress, hangs sharp knives onto the crib mobile, and fills up her baby bottle with what seems to be barbicide. She also sticks a fork into an outlet and places a hissing snake into the baby carrier. Talk about Adult Fear at it finest; the creepy piano music certainly doesn't help. After shaving the fur off a teddy bear, the pregnant woman goes to sit on the couch as the music slowly intensifies. She then pulls out a cigarette and ashtray and has a smoke while an [[HellIsThatNoise eerie ringing noise]] plays in the background. A message on the screen tells us "a mother can be her baby's worst enemy," while the narrator informs the audience that [[WhamLine in Finland, over 10,000 babies are endangered by smoking during pregnancy every year,]] encouraging mothers to quit.

* [[https://youtu.be/qsQIPBVqrsw This 2006 PSA]] features the actual 911 call from a man desperately attempting to get assistance for him and his girlfriend from the operator while in the middle of a snowstorm. Unfortunately, neither is able to tell her their location due to being ''high on meth'', and although the woman was equally desperate to find and help them, the couple was ultimately found [[CruelAndUnusualDeath frozen to death]].[[note]]And although it's not mentioned in the commercial, it was noted that when they were found since they were in such an extreme state of hypothermia, they endured paradoxical undressing where the brain fools one into thinking they were actually ''hot'' and had to relieve this condition.[[/note]]

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73cjNp7n75o This delightful little film]] from the Russian Ministry of Health plays on a slang phrase for delerium tremens; featuring a downright ''ugly'' CG animated squirrel that through his mannerisms proves himself to be outright AxeCrazy. Horrifying enough as it is if you don't understand Russian, but the advert becomes really disturbing if you select the captions and read the translated text, as the squirrel rants about spiders crawling everywhere and the need to kill someone's wife.

* The French organization AIDES released a print ad meant to illustrate how "AIDS makes us equal" by by showing none other than ComicBook/{{Superman}} [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Superman_in_AIDES_campaign.jpg afflicted with AIDS]]. While the premise might sound like something out of a bad [[MediaNotes/TheBronzeAgeOfComicBooks Bronze Age]] {{story arc}}, its depiction of a gaunt and emaciated Man of Steel is a haunting sight.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlGE3GZ1io4 This PSA]] from Argentina presents an altered version of the poem "First They Came," edited to be about the AIDS crisis. The ominous manner in which it is read out, coupled with the camera scrolling through a room full of empty hospital beds is deeply unnerving. An English subtitled version can be found [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EO8w0UhAxY0&t=21m47s here]].

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8m76KPJx5Q A creepily-animated PSA]] encouraging abstinence from Campaign For Our Children Inc. depicted a young couple about to have sex, when suddenly the camera zooms into the girl's eye and through her brain. The girl now represented as a talking heart, she is informed by her brain cells about the various risks of underage sexual intercourse (including [=STIs=] and pregnancy). All with DerangedAnimation running throughout. The ad ends with the girl telling her boyfriend "I wanna wait."

Its no surprise that TheTopicOfCancer gives us plenty of material for frightening adverts.

!!AIDS
Anti-AIDS adverts understandably generate plenty of NightmareFuel. It not as though the public needs another TragicAIDSStory, right?
[[folder:AIDS]]

Having the air sucked out of you is terrifying.

* The French organization AIDES released a print ad meant to illustrate how "AIDS makes us equal" by by showing none other than ComicBook/{{Superman}} [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Superman_in_AIDES_campaign.jpg afflicted with AIDS]]. While the premise might sound like something out of a bad [[UsefulNotes/TheBronzeAgeOfComicBooks Bronze Age]] {{story arc}}, its depiction of a gaunt and emaciated Man of Steel is a haunting sight.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVRO_a6pQB8 This]] UsefulNotes/NewZealand anti-drug PSA shows a man snorting a piece of ''his own brain''.

* '''"Playing with Drugs? You Can't Win!"'''[[note]]Cantonese: 玩毒品？你玩唔起！[[/note]] is a series of [=APIs=] that start with an exciting situation that illustrates the initial rush from using drugs, then fast forwards with a caption in Cantonese that reads, "Ever since they played with drugs..." It goes downhill from there, ending with the related object destroyed in the middle of a landfill, illustrating the horrific long-term effects of drug abuse. A creepy whispering voice asks the viewer, "Do you still want to try (drugs)?" before fading to black with the {{tagline}}.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqTzrz_Tto8 The second one]] is set inside a pinball machine based on the ''Pinball/LastActionHero'' board, where the player earns a lot of score bonuses. However, the video fast-forwards to where the game tilts. The player shoots another ball, but this time it wanders as the music distorts and the machine's artwork changes into eerie drawings of drug-addicted women, accompanied by [[HellIsThatNoise echoing distorted screams]] while the ball ''shorts out the machine'' with every hit before cutting to the machine, whose sparking and twitching becomes reminiscent of a person suffering a drug overdose. Finally, the ad flash-cuts with ''breaking glass sounds'' to the now-wrecked machine in the middle of a landfill.
* The Hong Kong Correctional Services Department (HKCSD) also collaborated with both the Narcotics Division and the Hong Kong Police Force to launch its own [=APIs=] concerning drug use with its "Drugs Harm Lifetimes" ads. To amp up the creepy factor, these [=APIs=] make use of a [[https://m.fonts.net.cn/font-32440301099.html Kangxi Radicals-style font]] and the slogans are drug-related puns[[note]]毒 literally means "poison", but it's also short for "drugs".[[/note]].

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2whizfCVnBc A 70’s animated anti-smoking Canadian PSA called “Light Me Harry”]] from the Creator/NationalFilmBoardOfCanada featured a man playing the piano while a beautiful woman lying on the couch in an upstairs room tells him to light her cigarette, the cigarette snaking all the way down the stairs until it reaches the man. He lights it and follows it as the music intensifies, but when he reaches her, he screams in horror to see that the woman is now an old woman with a skeletal figure. He runs out of the room as she screams for him to come back before collapsing on the couch as the narrator tells viewers that the longer you smoke, the shorter your life.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2whizfCVnBc A 70’s animated anti-smoking Canadian PSA called “Light Me Harry”]] featured the man playing the piano while a beautiful woman lying down on the couch in a sexy pose tells her husband to light her in a sexy voice she then pulls her cigarette all away downstairs until it reaches her husband he lights it and follows it but when he gets to his wife he screams in horror to see his wife was now an old woman with a skeletal figure he then ran out of the room as his wife calls out for him to come back then she coughs a lot before lying down on the couch and probably dies as the narrator tells the viewers the longer you smoke the shorter life gets.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pl3aSiiac40 A 1998 ad from Baygon Philippines]] about dengue prevention starts with the picture of a smiling boy with kids' laughter in the background before the camera pans away to reveal it's on a white T-shirt held by a coat hanger. A strong wind knocks it over and the laughter dies down when the shirt falls and sinks into a bucket of water. As the narrator talks about the dangers of stagnant water while mosquito buzzing noises and disembodied screams are heard in the background, the boy's face starts to look sickly and eventually changes into screaming in terror, ending with the shirt being wrung out while displaying said expression. However, the ad ends on a happy note as it cuts to people cleaning up the stagnant water, ending with the kid on the T-shirt smiling more profusely before fading to the old Baygon logo.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3Se7_6d-vg Another disturbing ad]] from the National Council Against Smoking shows a middle-aged woman [[NauseaFuel coughing up and vomiting black tar in her bathroom sink,]] complete with unsettling gagging noises. Then, the Tagline reveals that she just coughed up about ''3.4 kilograms of tar,'' [[WhamLine which is how much a pack-a-day smoker would produce over the course of 40 years.]] The calm folk song by Sufjan Stevens playing in the background, "The Dress Looks Nice on You," does [[SoundtrackDissonance absolutely nothing to alleviate how disgusting this ad is,]] and it certainly shouldn't be watched while eating.

* A (thankfully brief) series of AIDS campaigns in UsefulNotes/{{France}} pictured a woman being [[BestialityIsDepraved made love to]] by an enormous spider and a man having sex with a large scorpion.

* [[https://youtu.be/rQ_k-zv15_Y "Bathtub"]] features a young woman who is going to try meth at a party she's about to attend taking a shower, and she's horrified to suddenly meet her future addict self begging her not to go. This one is often considered the scariest Meth Project PSA.

* [[https://youtu.be/wKOlfAdKQcM "Sisters"]] features a teenaged addict and her reluctant younger sister approaching two grown men for money to have sex with them both. As they start to service the girls, the younger one begins to cower. The girls' faces [[FacialHorror suddenly become pockmarked with sores]] as they all enter the restroom. Making matters worse, as this is happening the older sister just tells her to shut her eyes as she has a dazed look upon her face.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDUoXp4cB_c&ab_channel=MethProject "Friends"]] begins with three worried teens inside a car. A female narrator says she is "tight with her friends," who "always look out for me." The narrator is revealed to be the fourth person in the car, slumped in the backseat, as the car halts in front of a hospital emergency room. The girl's "friends" pull her unconscious body out of the car, dump her next to the curb, and speed off as a nurse approaches the girl.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Irvl4pLA9A0&ab_channel=MethProject In "Mother"]], a teenage boy raids his mother's purse for money, while in narration, he talks about how much he loves her. When she enters the room and objects to his theft, he strikes her to the floor. She cries out to him, hanging onto his leg. He kicks free and flees, as she lies sobbing on the floor.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPu-W06ZMgg&ab_channel=MethProject In "Parents"]], an upset teenage boy approaches his parents' house, knocking on the door, and shouting "I'm sorry, Dad!" In narration, the boy says he's always been very close to his parents. Inside the house, his parents are panicked and distraught and turn off the light. The boy kicks the door many times, begging to be let in, screaming that he's going to kill them.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlQ3p08A4CY&ab_channel=MethProject In "Boyfriend"]], a teen girl lies on a bed in her underwear, as an older man zips up his pants and walks out the door of their motel room. In narration, the girl says, "I love my boyfriend, we've been together since like eighth grade. He takes care of me." As the older man exits, he hands something (presumably a bag of Meth) to the girl's boyfriend, who stands outside of the door. The boyfriend enters the room and inspects the bag of Meth that the man gave him, as the girl cringes and weeps.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7jGojf8XnA&ab_channel=MethProject "Ben"]] begins with the camera panning across an empty living room. We see quick flashes of a young boy going into convulsions on the couch. A girl's voice says, "This is where he went into convulsions." The scene shifts to a hospital operating room and we hear her say, "This is the emergency room where he almost died." As the commercial continues, the camera shows the alley where he smoked Meth again after he got out and, finally, the storeroom where he hung himself because he couldn't quit. The camera closes in on a frayed length of rope still hanging from a beam. In the last scene the girl who has been telling the story appears on camera and says: "...and this is what I said, when he told me he was going to try Meth." The girl falls silent and stares into the lens.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWD3mIZH7sw&ab_channel=MethProject "Jessica"]] begins on an empty football field. A young man's voice-over says, "This is where she used to be a cheerleader." The scene changes to a dirty bathroom. The young man's voice says, "This is the sink where she started pulling out her eyebrows." The scene continues to change, showing the hallway of an abandoned building where her dealer raped her, and the backyard where she forced her little brother to smoke Meth with her. Finally the young man who is telling the story appears on camera, looks into the lens and says: "...and this is what I said, when she told me she was going to try Meth." The boy falls silent and stares into the camera.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTnQHT6UpP4&ab_channel=MethProject "Tracy"]] starts in an empty clothing store. A teenage girl's voice says, "This is the store she got fired from." Quick flashbacks show a young girl's hand stealing money from the store register. The scene changes to a suburban house, "the house she broke into." The scene changes again to show the motel room where the Meth user started selling her body and the hospital incubator with the baby she gave birth to two months early. In the last scene, the girl who has been talking sits in front of the camera, looks up and says: "...and this is what I said, when she told me she was going to try Meth." Then she falls silent and stares into the lens.

* [[https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xadsq9 One NSFW German PIF]] starts out as essentially softcore porn, where a man and a woman go to the bathroom in a club and essentially get it on to the tune of some eerie music. The horror ([[{{Narm}} or humor]]) doesn't come until the very end, where we see the man banging this woman is in fact '''''{{Hitler|AteSugar}}.''''' The message: "AIDS is a mass murderer." There are other versions of this PIF, where instead of Hitler, the man banging the woman is another dictator like Stalin and Hussein; print versions have also been made.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lW-BlbZvms Another Swedish PSA]] warning against drinking alcohol while pregnant shows us the inside of a mother's womb with a creepy-looking CGI fetus, with club music and people drunkenly giggling in the background. It's implied the mother is also drinking at the party, and as the alcohol travels through the umbilical cord to the fetus, we see it tense up slightly as the mother's heart rate rapidly increases. A message then appears saying, "Your unborn baby has the same blood alcohol level as you. You have a choice. ''Your baby doesn't.''" Sure, it's more tame compared to the other examples listed here, but the unsettling ambience over the upbeat background music as well as the sound of the mother's heartbeat still make this ad fairly creepy.

* [[https://web.facebook.com/StLukesPH/photos/a.1131976466882136/3960412207371867 These]] [[https://web.facebook.com/StLukesPH/photos/a.1131976466882136/3960446674035087/ haunting]] [[https://web.facebook.com/StLukesPH/photos/a.1131976466882136/3960450427368045 posters]] from St. Luke's Medical Center in the Philippines remind the public to keep safe against COVID-19. Common sentiments such as "I don't want to be alone", "I can't breathe" and "I don't want my face covered" caption stark black-and-white images portraying two contexts to the same text: the image on the left is the one who followed the rules, the image on the right is the one who suffered the consequences.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBe_vFGgIHY This collection of Japanese CMs]] starts off as a regular info-talk show where the host discusses about cholesterol and arteriosclerosis, and the importance of getting a check-up for these diseases. Cue sudden MoodWhiplash when the host himself suddenly experiences chest pain and collapses. The three other endings show other people collapsing instead: one of the mascots, a studio audience member, [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou a cameraman, and someone watching TV at home]].

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBe_vFGgIHY This collection of Japanese CMs]] starts off as a regular info-talk show where the host discusses about cholesterol and arteriosclerosis, and the importance of getting a check-up for these diseases. Cue sudden MoodWhiplash when the host himself suddenly experiences chest pain and collapses. The three other endings show other people collapsing instead: one of the mascots, the cameraman, and [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou the one watching TV at home]].

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBe_vFGgIHY This collection of Japanese CMs]] starts off as a regular info-talk show where the host discusses about cholesterol and arteriosclerosis, and the importance of getting a check-up for these diseases. Cue sudden MoodWhiplash when the host himself suddenly experiences chest pain and collapses. The three other endings show other people collapsing instead: one of the mascots, the cameraman, and [[spoiler: {{TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou the one watching TV at home}}]].

---> '''"I wish I could have my heart attack again."'''

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UW9Cjj3i6QE "Watch Your Own Heart Attack"]] was a short TV film run by the British Heart Foundation, a charity that funds research into heart disease and promotes prevention. Rather graphically it showed you in first person the symptoms of a heart attack and what to do if someone is having one, and all presented by a ghoulishly-cheery Creator/StevenBerkoff, capitalising on his psycho bad guy screen image to great effect.

!!Strokes
Simply put, a stroke is a disruption to the brain's blood supply. The very concept of such a direct blow to the very center of your being is undoubtedly terrifying, and adverts like these aim to tell it like it is.

*** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZBMlzYaS4Y The guy who uploaded it on YouTube simply labeled it as "I've Just Shit Me Pants" and proclaimed it the scariest PIF he's ever seen, to the point that he says he doesn't want to see it in a lit up room in the middle of the day, let alone in a darkened cinema. People in the comments say that the ''thumbnail'' was enough for them.