History Main / PublicServiceAnnouncement

* In 2010, someone in the Russian Ministry of Health remembered that a common Russian slang phrase for delerium tremens meant something along the lines of "the squirrel from Hell." The result of this was a series of anti-drinking advertisements featuring a drunken, bedraggled CGI squirrel with bloodshot eyes who acted like a man gone half-insane after a night getting plastered. The tagline had him look right at the camera and say "Getting drunk? I'll be coming your way!!" For those who don't see the connection - in Russian language the word Squirrel (''Be-lo-ch-ka'') used to describe '''Delirium tremens''' (shaking frenzy) (''Be-la-ya Go-rya-ch-ka'') that is caused by excessive drinking. It's faster to say (than the full phrase) and rather well known to the public. Delirium causes hallucinations, so a visit from a squirrel is a sure sign that you need a doctor right now.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYpEVO4a-Mo This API]] from the Narcotics Division shows a man wandering in the street before flashing back to both the time of his hiring and the time of his firing. The former shows him twitching while holding a fistful of pills at a job interview, dousing water on himself as the heavy drug abuse blurred his vision. The latter shows him on the floor laughing as the staff cleaned up; he was the Best Man at his coworker's wedding, but made an ass of himself in his drug-addled frenzy. The ad eventually shows the man doing drugs and suffering the effects, ending with him falling on his knees and screaming.

* The "Don't die before you've lived" road safety ads aimed at teenagers. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHiVI0w4lLY One]] purported to be a trailer for a ''[[Film/TheBourneSeries The Bourne Identity]]''-style movie and ended with the star being hit by a car as a teenager. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBPe9VfOXcI Another one featured a female supermodel giving a tour of her house in the style of MTV Cribs, and it also ended with her getting hit by a car as a schoolgirl. There were also posters for this, which seems to have focused on the London area.

* The "Don't die before you've lived" road safety ads aimed at teenagers. One purported to be a trailer for a ''[[Film/TheBourneSeries The Bourne Identity]]''-style movie and ended with the star being hit by a car as a teenager. There were also posters for this, which seems to have focused on the London area.

** ''Series/TopGearUK'' did a PSA on the dangers of trying to run railway crossings in your car. The best ways to avoid getting hit by the train were to not be an [[AcceptableTargets elderly driver]] and to [[SpoofAesop always wear your high-visibility jacket.]] Needless to say, they received some complaints.

* There was an anti-drunk driving PSA, which was aired in the '70s. An [[Series/That70sShow Eric Foreman]]-type kid is driving his girlfriend home; he's clearly had a few and is pleasantly buzzed - then he runs into her dad's parked car, putting a big dent in it. The ad ends with her dad coming out the front door, looking not pleased. [[IncrediblyLamePun What a]] [[{{Catchphrase}} dumbass.]]

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNFfgqXXGfQ Speaking of parents,]] nobody wants to see his/her child get into drugs, what more imprisoned for it.

* South Africa's Parents For Responsible Viewing released the Biggie Bear ads in 2004 to remind parents to control what their kids watch. Yes, ''[[Advertising/BiggieBear there is an article for them.]]'' They feature the titular "Biggie Bear" doing seemingly child-friendly things as the PSA begins, only for each ad to take a dark and disturbing turn by the end, where Biggie proceeds to show his true colors and torture (and, in the first one, kill) the poor schmuck who runs into him. The third one is arguably the worst, as it shows him downright raping Miss Pussycat, the "friend" in question.

* Advertising/TheCrashDummies [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANAlT4pjRDI Vince and Larry]] were the stars of a series of [=PSAs=] about road safety, created by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. It was their job to promote car safety and ensure people buckled their safety belts.

* ''Advertising/BiggieBear'', a trio of shorts by the South African "Parents For Responsible Viewing". Let's just say that he may [[SubvertedKidsShow look like a teddy, buts acts like a grizzly]].

* "You can learn a lot from a Dummy. Buckle your safety belt." The costumes are in the Smithsonian now as tribute to how well the campaign worked not only at its intended purpose but becoming an icon immortalized in pop culture around the whole world.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqTzrz_Tto8 Another 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 aimlessly 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 reminds 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.

[=PSAs=] may sometimes seem to deliver a CaptainObviousAesop, but it's good to remember that the aesop may not be obvious to everyone. Common subjects include [[DrunkDriver drunk driving]], [[SmokingIsNotCool smoking]], and [[DrugsAreBad drug abuse]]. On the other hand, if the [=PSA=] lacks sufficient self-awareness, it may fall victim to the [[BrokenAesop unintended message]], "DoNotDoThisCoolThing."

* South Africa's Parents For Responsible Viewing released the Biggie Bear ads in 2004 to remind parents to control what their kids watch. Yes,''[[Advertising/BiggieBear there is an article for them.]]'' They feature the titular "Biggie Bear" doing seemingly child-friendly things as the PSA begins, only for each ad to take a dark and disturbing turn by the end, where Biggie proceeds to show his true colors and torture (and, in the first one, kill) the poor schmuck who runs into him. The third one is arguably the worst, as it shows him downright raping Miss Pussycat, the "friend" in question.

* South Africa's Parents For Responsible Viewing released the Biggie Bear ads in 2004 to remind parents to control what their kids watch. They were infamous enough that ''[[Advertising/BiggieBear there is an article for them]]''! They feature the titular "Biggie Bear" doing seemingly child-friendly things as the PSA begins, only for each ad to take a dark and disturbing turn by the end, where Biggie proceeds to show his true colors and torture (and, in the first one, kill) the poor schmuck who runs into him. The third one is arguably the worst, as it shows him downright raping Miss Pussycat, the "friend" in question.

[=PSAs=] may sometimes seem to deliver a CaptainObviousAesop, but it's good to remember that the aesop may not be obvious to everyone. On the other hand, if the [=PSA=] lacks sufficient self-awareness, it may fall victim to the [[BrokenAesop unintended message]], "DoNotDoThisCoolThing."

The most common subjects include [[Drunk Driver drunk driving]], [[SmokingIsNotCool smoking]], and [[DrugsAreBad drug abuse]].

* One UK campaign against "binge drinking" showed a young man preparing to go for a night out. He urinates over his shoes, covers his shirt in curry, smashes his face into a door and rips out his own earring, before leaving the house looking as if he's gone several rounds with Mike Tyson. Another ad, aimed at young women merely showed the heroine vomiting into her hair and ripping her clothes. The clear implication was that women don't get into fights. Have they never encountered the rage of a drunken [[TheLadette ladette]] at 2 a.m.? Creator/TheBBC has shown that these ads backfired: Little did these guys know, that telling your friends how you peed in your shoes and smashed your face against the door is funny as hell...

** As if that wasn't bad enough, ''Robbie'' was intended to be a milder replacement for an earlier film, ''[[http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/bt/guruandwez/fycw/28509-the-finishing-line The Finishing Line]]''. How the entire generation that saw those films managed to ''not'' become traumatised is beyond understanding. ''The Finishing Line'' lasted two years, was televised in full on several occasions, and was 'withdrawn' rather than banned. The first five minutes can be enjoyed [[http://www.bfi.org.uk/creativearchive/titles/7239.html here]], and the [[http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/1077210/index.html BFI]] has released the full version on a compilation DVD so that everyone can appreciate the nightmare.
** ''Robbie'' itself was later replaced by a more modern (1990s) film called ''Killing Time''. This film begins with a dramatisation of a group of friends walking home along a railway line and debating whether to cut across it to save time. One of them {{anvilicious}}ly tells them how dangerous it is and leaves; but the others all run across the track, except for one boy who is too scared. Eventually, he does decide to walk across the track and join his friends but then slips on the tracks and is run over by an oncoming train. This is followed by real pictures from accident scenes and railway workers talking about the horror of people getting hit by trains.

** There was an urban version of ''Apaches'' called ''Film/BuildingSitesBite'' and features [[IdiotBall Ronald]] who is sent by his cousins to different building sites and is given the challenge to "Find his dog and get out without getting hurt." Needless to say, the poor lad stumbles upon his death in every site, being [[BuriedAlive buried alive in a trench collapse]], electrocuted by a frayed wire in a half-demolished house, breaking his skull on a concrete wall after falling off a pipe, crushed beneath a pile of bricks and drowns in an abandoned quarry. The moral of the story was that he simply should have declined to go or at least heeded all warning signs. The creepy part? When Ronald is electrocuted, they zoom in in his burned hand, then his pale body, dead on the floor of the building, [[DiesWideOpen eyes wide open.]] That, and his [[CreepyChild cousins are unfazed by his deaths.]] [[spoiler: At the end, it turns out that these deaths are all imagined by Ronald (hence his cousins not being fazed) and he ultimately decides to not go into the building sites.]]

* A very beloved British PSA in the 1960s featured "Reginald Molehusband," a man who was hopelessly bad at parking his car. Buses changed their routes to avoid him and people took bets on his performance, until the day he did it right (with a demonstration for the viewer). In 2007 the BBC launched a nationwide appeal for any existing copies of the film but none were found, so they remade it with the original actor.

--> I'll be [[LastNoteNightmare BACK!]]

* An infamous anti-child abuse commercial in the late 90s has a doll giving contorted faces as she was being manhandled, all while the sounds of children being abused is being heard, and eventually was destroyed. Due to the black background and the distorted face, it landed straight to the NightmareFuel category of PSA page and was said by many Filipino children to be infamous for scaring the living daylights out of them.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EscnZsCtH18 "El perico tumba la paloma"]] is an anti-drug ad based around a vulgar pun in Spanish[[note]]''Perico'' (parakeet) is slang for cocaine, while ''paloma'' (pigeon) is slang for male genitalia[[/note]]. starts with three pigeons on an apartment roof until a parakeet comes along and scares off two of them. Then the parakeet starts harassing the remaining pigeon by shoving it, moving erratically, and even chirping loudly until the pigeon looks down and notices it's standing in the air, falling down to its death as a result. The ad ends with the parakeet chirping as the tagline appears.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EscnZsCtH18 "El perico tumba la paloma"]] is an anti-drug ad based around a vulgar pun[[note]]The Spanish word ''perico'' (parakeet) is slang for cocaine, while the word ''paloma'' (pigeon) is slang for male genitalia[[/note]]. starts with three pigeons on an apartment roof until a parakeet comes along and scares off two of them. Then the parakeet starts harassing the remaining pigeon by shoving it, moving erratically, and even chirping loudly until the pigeon notices is standing in the air and falls down to its death, ending with the parakeet chirping on as the tagline appears.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EscnZsCtH18 "El perico tumba la paloma"]] is an anti-drug ad based around whose name is a pun[[note]]The Spanish word ''perico'' (parakeet) is slang for cocaine, while the word ''paloma'' (pigeon) is slang for male genitalia[[/note]]. starts with three pigeons on an apartment roof until a parakeet comes along and scares off two of them. Then the parakeet starts harassing the remaining pigeon by shoving it, moving erratically, and even chirping loudly until the pigeon notices is standing in the air and falls down to its death, ending with the parakeet chirping as the tagline appears.

** ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFKUD2nej-g K(etamine) Episode: Urinary Bag! It Will Accompany You!]]'' - This API centers on a man named Ziming, whose stress of being criticized by his wife for his laziness and having to study for an exam led him to snort K to get a release. Eventually, Ziming ends up in a [[AndIMustScream permanent vegetative state]], needing a catheter and a urinary bag as the heavy drug abuse also [[PottyFailure severely impaired his bladder function]]. Furthermore, a caption reveals he was sentenced to more than 9 years in prison for drug-related offenses before showing the tagline: "Sink into a sea of drugs and you'll be alone for a lifetime."
--->'''Narrator:''' Smoking weed, popping pills, snorting K(etamine). You take these drugs thinking they will relieve stress and make you forget worries. You even thought selling drugs would "make quick profits". But in fact, not only these will not help you, but will also kill your bodily functions in seconds. Especially K(etamine). It will K.O. your bladder into the ground, and you will lose your freedom and love. All that remains will be loneliness, and this will follow you for a lifetime.

--->'''Narrator:''' It goes without saying that a young pretty girl loved by thousands consumed cocaine, smoked ice, and felt trendy! She felt high! But it actually can lead to depression, irritability, and mental insanity. Consuming or smoking methamphetamine will even make you suffer ice sores. Your youth is ruined. And your future is also ruined. All that remains are the sores on your face, indelible brands for life.

* South Africa's Parents For Responsible Viewing released the Biggie Bear ads in 2004 to remind parents to control what their kids watch. They were infamous enough that ''[[AdvertisingBiggieBear there is an article for them]]''! They feature the titular "Biggie Bear" doing seemingly child-friendly things as the PSA begins, only for each ad to take a dark and disturbing turn by the end, where Biggie proceeds to show his true colors and torture (and, in the first one, kill) the poor schmuck who runs into him. The third one is arguably the worst, as it shows him downright raping Miss Pussycat, the "friend" in question.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqTzrz_Tto8 Another one]] is set inside a pinball machine based on ''Pinball/LastActionHero'', 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 aimlessly 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. Eventually, the camera cuts to the sparking, twitching machine until it flash-cuts with ''breaking glass sounds'' to the now-wrecked machine in the middle of a landfill.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c07UronFxbw The first promo]] starts with MoralGuardians protesting against the violent and sexual content found on illegal videocassettes, then shots of Korean newspaper reporting on how illegal VHS and pornography have a bad influence on society, before fading into a shot of a drawing of a sexy women, then the scene cuts to a view of pornographic VHS tape illegally sold by street vendors, and illegal and pornographic VHS tapes being confiscated and [[BookBurning then burnt,]] while a female narrator warns about the illegal VHS tapes. After that, the scene cuts to an short promo teaching viewers how to distinguish between genuine and illegal counterfeit videocassettes. At the end, the promo gives the number of a phone hotline to report street vendors who sell illegal videocassettes.

** ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzFRUjG-vVs Cannabis Episode: Stylish Guy? Foolish Guy!]]'' centers on a high school boy at a holiday party who tries cannabis for the first time and becomes addicted to it. As a consequence, he becomes worn out and the ad cuts to him being escorted to a prison cell, while the caption reveals that not only he ended up in prison for criminal offenses but ''became mentally ill from drug abuse and was detained at a psychiatric facility''. Tagline: "Playing with drugs and losing your mind ruins your whole life."
--->'''Narrator:''' Friends in class have a holiday party. Your brushed sense of being makes you think you'd rather be the "stylish guy" than be treated as the "foolish guy". But cannabis is a drug. It leads to addiction, causes hallucinations, and impairs the intellect. You will also end up in prison and have a criminal record.

** ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYEYhy9LmnI Ice Drug Episode: Indelible Markings]]'' is one of the most harrowing. It starts with a pretty girl ending her nightly livestream and taking drugs out of her drawer. While she felt the usual rush from smoking ice (meth), she soon starts to regret it when her face becomes full of pockmarks and sores. Then the camera pans left to reveal the same girl looking regretfully in the mirror, only she's now in prison before her caption reveals she was sentenced to 42 months for drug trafficking. Tagline: "The torment of youth will destroy the rest of their lives."

* Two [=APIs=] 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 used 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 voice asks the viewer, "Do you still want to try (drugs)?" before fading to black with the tagline: "Playing with drugs? You can't win!"
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcY664l2ItU One anti-drug ad]] was based on one of the songs (its lyrics containing references to DUI and drugs) from Sammi Cheng, a famous singer from HK. The ad features a modified version of the karaoke music video to the song, sung by a girl. Then the song fast-forwards to the final part, and the girl now sings off-key because of heavy drug abuse. Before she finishes the last line, her head smashes the screen and the camera zooms out to reveal a TV in a landfill.

* An equivalent ad from the early 90s (part of the "Kill Your Speed, Not a Child" Campaign) showed three successive scenarios in which the children were hit by a speed sign in place of a car. Each scenario opened with the parents alluding to the fate of the child, with the consequences getting increasingly nastier as the speed goes up (broken leg, potential brain damage, death). No gore to speak of, but the final shots of the unfortunate third child's sister screaming to her and her toy pushchair being thrown up in the air were rather chilling.
* Also part of the "Kill your speed" campaign was a black and white ad featuring a young girl informing the audience that she will be killed and giving examples of various excuses that speeding drivers use after they have caused an accident such as running late for work or not paying attention. The TV and radio campaign used the music of Julee Cruise, whose creepy and haunting vocal style fit the visuals perfectly.
* The [[HappierHomeMovie home video]] "Kill your speed" campaigns showed video footage of young children in happier times: one had voice over of a police officer explaining the protocol for informing someone about a road accident, while others featured readings of poetry about death and mourning (including "Funeral Blues" by WH Auden and "Remember" by Christina Rossetti.) The adverts both end with the caption that all the children shown were killed by speeding drivers.