History NightmareFuel / PublicServiceAnnouncement

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_3732.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noFCekWiUGE "...but really, I should have cleaned up the grease over there."]]]]

* A series of 2018 PSA by the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EN3BJLd08_A Busan Metropolitan Police Agency]] are as creative as they are insidious. They were disguised as voyeur pornography and uploaded to file-sharing sites. They feature hidden camera shots of a woman changing, using the toilet, etc... Before the footage is interrupted by the woman's [[StringyHairedGhostGirl vengeful ghost]] accompanied by the tagline: "You looking at her right now could be what drove her to suicide after being caught on hidden camera", followed by "This site is being monitored by the police". This campaign proved so effective that [[https://www.adforum.com/creative-work/ad/player/34561682/stop-downloadkill/busan-metropolitan-police-agency voyeur video distribution declined by 21%]] afterward.

* A series of 2017 PSA by the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EN3BJLd08_A Busan Metropolitan Police Agency]] are as creative as they are insidious. They were disguised as voveur pornography and uploaded to file-sharing sites. They feature hidden camera shots of a woman changing, using the toilet, etc... Before the footage is interrupted by the woman's [[StringyHairedGhostGirl vengeful ghost]] accompanied by the tagline: "You looking at her right now could be what drove her to suicide after being caught on hidden camera", followed by "This site is being monitored by the police".

* An UsefulNotes/{{India}}n [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qO4j67vszD0 PSA for the Prayas Foundation]] is very simple and unsettling. A cursor slowly moves over a still image of a smiling girl. It starts off innocent enough, but the cursor moves down to the girl's chest and crotch areas. This goes on for a while before it fades to black with the tagline "Thankfully, she did not feel a thing. ''But millions of children are not as fortunate''."\\\
UsefulNotes/{{Germany}} [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4NpNrPizOk made their own version]] which is even more horrifying. In this one, when the cursor moves over the picture of the kid, the sound of [[PaedoHunt a man]] getting off to it is heard in the background. It's bound to push all the wrong buttons.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnZ0QgVi_LE This horrifying South African PSA]] has a man, implied to be HIV-positive, ''raping his daughter'' off-screen while a {{mammy}} listens via a baby monitor. The fact that she can only stand there and listen in utter horror as the child's cheerful greeting turns into desperate pleas for mercy, culminating in a RapidFireNo that goes unheeded, makes the whole thing ten times worse. The icing on the cake is the {{tagline}} "If you won't stop him from raping her, who will?" when the whole point of the PSA shows a woman helpless to stop a girl from being raped.

* A series of 2017 PSA by the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EN3BJLd08_A Busan Metropolitan Police Agency]] are as creative as they are insidious. They were disguised as voveur pornography and uploaded to file-sharing sites. They feature hidden camera shot of a woman changing, using the toilet, etc... Before the footage is interrupted by the woman's [[StringyHairedGhostGirl vengeful ghost]] accompanied by the tagline: "You looking at her right now could be what drove her to suicide after being caught on hidden camera", followed by "This site is being monitored by the police".

* There was once a commercial from The Night's Guard that showed a young brother and sister duo pretending to be a knight and a princess, respectfully. All is fine and well until their drunken father comes charging up the stairs towards the room, but instead of a normal human shadow, there is the downright scary image of a dragon where it should be on the wall. Thankfully, the children are rescued by children's services before the father/"dragon" could do anything to them, but still...

* More mild than most examples here, but the [=EnergyLife=].com commercial "Wasted Kilowatts" has creepy men in black body suits crawling around your basement, your attic, [[ParanoiaFuel your fridge]]...

* One French PSA gets to the point very quickly, as a woman by the name of Anne Leroy talks about how horribly her husband abused her... but "two weeks ago, [[HopeSpot it finally ended!]]" The scene then pans down to ''her grave''.

** Their book "Welcome To My Neighborhood" is even worse: the cover looks cute enough, but there are broken beer bottles on the ground. The first story, "The Good Man", features a rat's crack-addicted boyfriend [[DomesticAbuse violently beating her daughter]]; "Dinnertime" features an impoverished family of anthropomorphic cats rationing food; and "My Big Brothers" features three rabbits committing bank robbery and murder (complete with a frog's bloody bullet wounds). Granted, the third brother was about to be raped, but the way he strangled that opossum was just gruesome. What's especially alarming is that these stories are based on ''reported incidents that actually happened'', with each of the three stories followed by an account of a child giving a more detailed description of their hardship that the given story is based on.

[[folder: ''RSPCA'']]

[[folder: ''NSPCC'']]

[[folder: ''Barnardo's'']]

[[folder: ''UNICEF'']]

[[folder: ''ChildLine'']]

[[folder: Domestic Abuse and Personal Concerns]]

[[folder: Rape and Sexual Violence]]

[[folder: ''Greenpeace'']]

[[folder: ''Smokey Bear'']]

[[folder: ''PETA'']]

* [[NightmareFuel/PublicServiceAnnouncementsSafety Safety]] (including children, fire, fireworks, guns, vehicles, crime and the workplace)

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ue114_ghKVs This haunting PSA]] from the World Society for the Protection of Animals shows a man in a dark workshop putting together a wooden bear. He starts by sawing off one of the bear's ears, followed by the claws and paw tips, and finally drills through the bear's nose. All of this is intercut with footage of a real bear going through the same torture. In the end, he finishes by putting a string through the nose, pulls it, and makes the bear "dance". A narrator then says, "Captivity, torture, or dance until death. The WSPA helps abused animals. Please help.". The camera work and distorted audio don't help.

[[folder: ''[=PeTA=]'']]

* The American Humane Society released [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQEgoYGsMPE this advert]] in 1990, which shows photos of serial killer Jeffery Dahmer from age 8 to his thirties, whilst also showing captions of the cruel things he did to animals. Each one is equally shocking: he poured motor oil into a bowl full of tadpoles when he was eight, decapitated a dog and mounted the head on a stake in his teens, and stripped the flesh off roadkill in his twenties. The last caption reads, "We all know what he did when he was thirty." The scary music adds to the nightmarish atmosphere of the PSA.

* [[https://www.adsoftheworld.com/campaigns/hands-b84f2479-77cf-417c-b324-a66e8d3d4332 One creepy print ad]] from Casa de Menor in UsefulNotes/{{Spain}} featured a young girl standing alone in a room naked, with several disembodied hands covering her body in a way that resembles a dress, implying that she had been molested. There was a similar ad from another company that featured a teenage girl, also in a hand-dress.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfzW-iaMyCQ This horrifying Portuguese PSA]] starts off with a man walking into an eerily lit basement while we hear some creepy music, accompanied by creaking noises coming from the ceiling light. We also see some photos, and some ''really freaky'' looking dolls. We then see the man taking off his pants and opening a drawer to get some panties as he starts breathing more heavily. He starts ''sniffing them'' and then decides to put them on his foot as he rips them. The camerawork in this PSA just adds to the horror. We hear a stern narrator imploring us to break the silence and speak out for children.

* [[https://youtu.be/0fTuvdToYhU?feature=shared&t=21 "Joyeux Noel"]]: This French PSA from the International Association for Victims of Incest about incestual child sexual abuse entails a young boy who appears to simply be taking on a precocious "[[TheScrooge bah humbug]]" attitude, however, as the PSA goes on, the boy becomes increasingly more dramatic in his displays of disliking Christmas. However, upon the doorbell ringing, we see the boy, dressed up, appearing terrified as [[PaedoHunt someone bangs on the door knocker obnoxiously]]. We then see, in French, the words, "Not every child is looking forward to Christmas." Then, we are treated to a smash cut that reads, "75% of child sexual abuse in France is committed by a family member", and then it cuts to the logo for AIVI. However, after this, in the English version, we then have one final fade to the words, "we'll be doing another campaign for Father's Day".

* Another ad from UsefulNotes/{{Italy}} has a similarly harrowing metaphor for the burden of sexual abuse -- namely, a young boy lugging around and caring for a lifeless replica of his own body.

* One creepy print ad from Casa de Menor in UsefulNotes/{{Spain}} featured a young girl standing alone in a room naked, with several disembodied hands covering her body in a way that resembles a dress, implying that she had been molested. There was a similar ad from another company that featured a teenage girl, also in a hand-dress.

* In 1999, the Thai Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals released a very disturbing (and NSFW) ad entitled [[https://adsspot.me/media/tv-commercials/thai-society-for-the-prevention-of-cruelty-to-animals-tspca-mans-best-friend-eac06a9f5aa3 Man's Best Friend.]] It starts off with a dog standing in a dark alleyway, accompanied by soothing piano music. Text appears describing the dog as a loving pet, a security guard, a faithful buddy, and a member of the family. As a man comes to walk his dog home, the text "man's best friend" appears. But then, we are suddenly treated to ''real footage of a different man whipping his dog with a Kendo stick,'' which is heavily pixelated. While the dog whimpers in pain, we cut to a new message on a black screen: "Every year, over 2 million dogs are murdered for dinner. Do the right thing for your best friend. Call the TSPCA at 662-236-2176 now. ''Please.''" Talk about MoodWhiplash! The fact that the [[SoundtrackDissonance calm piano music continues throughout the whole ad]] doesn't help. You'll definitely want to give your own dog a big hug after watching this ad!
* The American Humane Society released [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQEgoYGsMPE this advert]] in 1990 which shows photos of serial killer Jeffery Dahmer from age 8 to his thirties, whilst also showing captions of the cruel things he did to animals. Each one is equally shocking; He poured motor oil into a bowl full of tadpoles when he was eight, decapitated a dog and mounted the head on a stake in his teens, and stripped the flesh off roadkill in his twenties. The last caption reads "We all know what he did when he was thirty". The scary music adds to the nightmarish atmosphere of the PSA.

* World Animal Protection [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucVy6YlpMDw released a PSA]] on Website/YouTube against factory farms. It begins with the phrase, "Ever heard the sound of suffering?", before asking the viewer to raise their device's volume up. After a few seconds, you hear the loud sounds of ''squealing and suffering animals, combined with flashing visuals of animals in factory farms''. Needless to say, warnings have appearing on social media asking those with panic attacks and anxiety to leave the video, as the ad is ''unskippable and plays out in its entirety''.

* [[https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oxyTHH89vYKPcI8QtnyeMKZMvyPNE1mk/view This one from Japan]] shows a dog ''getting executed in a gas chamber'' as the poor dog whimpers and cries while tapping on the glass barrier, desperately wanting to escape. We then SmashCut to a tagline informing us that ''45,000 dogs and cats'' get shoved in a gas chamber every year. And to top it all off, we get to see another dog locked up in a cage getting shoved into a gas chamber, ready to be executed. Don't throw away your pets, indeed.

* The Animals Asia Foundation put out [[https://youtu.be/vilIK86UkTo this absolutely horrific PSA]] about the practice of [[AsiansEatPets slaughtering animals for food]], where a man grinds meat ''over the gutwrenching sounds of a dog whimpering in pain as it is (presumably) put through a meat grinder.''
--> "Every year, millions of dogs are slaughtered for food in Asia. It's believed the more excruciating the death, the better the meat will taste. Dogs are our best friend, not food. Help us keep it that way."

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeF5ZSBlFgc This horrifying UNICEF ad]] uses the titles of several computer files and images to tell the story of Daniel, a successful 49-year-old businessman and father. Daniel's family thinks he's a workaholic who always gets home late, but he is secretly grooming underprivileged children in an apartment he owns downtown. The last sentence is definitely the worst part: ''"When he's done, the child gets some money that won't buy his childhood back."'' The text-to-speech voice and suspenseful music certainly don't help.
** [[https://youtu.be/JsBLcXiSzkA?feature=shared&t=62 Another one]] involves the story of Benjamin, a fashion photographer who comes across a website that shares child pornography, which ends up giving him the idea to drug a 12-year-old with dreams of becoming a model. The last words being ''"and this little angel will know hell".'' A disturbing detail is that under the "{{hell}}." folder is [[OhCrap a bunch of image files with the girl's name on them]].

* This PSA for the organization ''Child Cry'' has [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TU-I3PmP3AY a dark house at night, that appears]], at first, to be an implied evening of passion between lovers. There's a soundtrack of sensual funk music as we see the trail of clothes leading up to the bedroom. But then the ''true'' stomach-churning nature of what is ''really'' going on is revealed when the last things we see are a tiny sneaker, [[SweetSheep a little stuffed lamb plushie]], and worst of all, ''a small child's tiny pink panties''. For extra {{squick}}; during the lead-up, you can faintly hear a Creator/MichaelClarkeDuncan-esque voice mutter in a very deep, sleazy, "porny" voice, "...mah baby girl... I will feel yo body...".

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8jR23f8Rpc "Joyeux Noel"]]: This French PSA from the International Association for Victims of Incest about incestual child sexual abuse entails a young boy who appears to simply be taking on a precocious "bah humbug" attitude, however, as the PSA goes on, the boy becomes increasingly more dramatic in his displays of disliking Christmas. However, upon the doorbell ringing, we see the boy, dressed up, appearing terrified. We then see, in French, the words, "Not every child is looking forward to Christmas." Then, we are treated to a smash cut that reads, "75% of child sexual abuse in France is committed by a family member", and then it cuts to the logo for AIVI. However, after this, in the English version, we then have one final fade to the words, "we'll be doing another campaign for Father's Day".

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGI7FifcVWc&ab_channel=SeaShepherd This one from Australia]] shows Creator/DavidField perform an act of him getting killed by an unseen thing. We also see unsettling shots of him gasping for breath while he's staring straight into the camera. Sure, it's an act, but still unsettling, to say the least. And if you thought that was bad, we then cut to seeing actual footage of dead whales while David explains why he supports Sea Shepherd.

* In December 2014, League Against Cruel Sports created [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtKw7V7hGok this horrific cinema PIF]]. It begins with a woman holding her baby. At first, you're like "Oh, that's cute, but how does this relate to fox hunting?" Then, she looks out her door, and she and the baby have horrified reactions. The woman proceeds to put her crying baby into his crib, locks the house, then runs for her life out in the woods. And at this point, you realize that ''she'' is meant to represent the fox. The music proceeds to tense more and more as she tries to hide, only for her to be attacked, crying and panicking. The camera cuts to her exhausted, horrified face, [[GoryDiscretionShot then fades out, thus preventing the viewers from seeing her agonizing death.]] And ''then'', it proceeds to fade back to the baby in his crib, who is silently crying, now realizing that his mother will probably never come back. "What if it was you", indeed.
* The charity Tusk Force ran [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JD44WPqHsTc a nightmarish PIF for cinemas]] featuring the sound of a bear being beaten and then boiled alive, accompanied by a recipe instructing viewers on how to do it at home. [[NothingIsScarier We're not shown any footage]], all we see is the recipe, but the sound of the bear suffering an unimaginably agonizing death will stay with you for a while, as will the disquieting fact that "bears are considered a gourmet food in the UsefulNotes/FarEast, despite the fact that they are dangerously close to extinction."
* Another [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lsl-B88YUH0 harrowing ad]] concerning bears shows and discusses what happens to real bears captured and made to dance or perform for entertainment or have its body parts be used to make medicine or food, but on a teddy bear. Not only is it sick to see a beloved toy get ripped apart so brutally, have its paws chopped off, and have a hook driven through its nose, the teddy even sheds a SingleTear.

** [[http://youtu.be/8FX-VnhX24Q "Catwalk" ]] is an 18-certificate PIF in which a group of supermodels walk down the catwalk in their fancy new dresses, while the audience (including Creator/PaulReubens) is cheering and taking photos, [[BloodyHorror when the dresses]] [[MoodWhiplash suddenly seem to explode in animal blood]], as the women continue to walk down the catwalk as if nothing is happening while the audience is screaming and covered in blood, complete with some quite creepy music in the background. The PIF ends with the {{slogan}}: ''It takes 40 dumb animals to make a fur coat. But only one to wear it.''\\

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0yrP5HN0X0 "Scavengers"]] is easily the worst, as it features a bunch of rich snobs attending a fashion show and then pulling open a fur coat to reveal it to be absolutely infested with [[MessyMaggots slimy, repulsive flies and maggots]]. The startling synth cords only add to the terror, and the makers must have been serious gore lovers to produce such a nasty PIF. It's simply disgusting to watch. Barf bags at the ready, everyone. The narration at the end says, "When animals are killed for fur, two types of scavengers move in. The only difference is the flies don't know any better."[[note]]In reality, this is not the case. A fly ''could'' probably tell the difference between a fur coat and a carcass because the former has no flesh on it. Which means that if there is no flesh means no food, and thus no smell to attract flies.[[/note]]
** Lynx also commissioned the short film ''Skinned'', which was eventually shortened to a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfRFPWbzj18 normal format]] (the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iD7tzrIXOy0 official version]] lasts ''3 minutes'' long). A woman is shown heading to a fancy restaurant while garnishing herself in a fur suit, but while on her journey it seems to be a bit tight on her. But when she arrives and is about to eat, it gets ''really'' tight on her as the music (a TripHop beat with an operatic woman singing, which grows more and more dramatic) intensifies, and eventually an entire group of people have to help get it off her. We fade out, fade back onto the woman's disgusted face, and then zoom in on a ''skinless fox'' wrapped around her. Thankfully, [[NightmareRetardant it doesn't seem to be a real dead fox.]]
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l68VwUzuWjo This 1998 PIF]] directed by Creator/TonyKaye shows a woman buying a fur coat. Except interrupting the shots of her are shots of a man skinning an animal, and we get to see it all in graphic detail. It ends with the tagline "Fur looks great... until you open your eyes."

* A theatrical PIF called "Smile" produced by the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection, currently known as Cruelty Free International, starts off looking like an ordinary commercial for cosmetics, featuring a woman singing the song "Smile" for ''Film/ModernTimes''. However, that proves not to be the case as it soon starts showing the face of model Angie Hill becoming scarred as she applies makeup (mirroring the injuries experienced by animals used for cosmetics testing). At the end, she lets out a horrifying, electronic scream with her head close up and the screen fading to black. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaTcH9bd9LI It will scar you for life.]] Narrated by Creator/DameJudiDench.\\
An [[http://youtu.be/Brx2ipfmDec alternate version]] exists that uses the song "The Thinner the Air" by the Music/CocteauTwins. The bittersweet, haunting atmosphere of that song adds a [[TearJerker new feeling]] to the horror of the PIF.
--> Every year, thousands of other animals suffer this ugly pain in the name of beauty. Please don't use cosmetics tested in this way.

[[folder: ''PeTA'']]

-->'''Smokey Bear:''' If you knew it was me, would you have listened?

* A different, but significantly more grim Smokey Bear one is set in the far future. A grandfather is walking with his granddaughter in a world where people let forests burn. [[GaiasLament Then the birds died. The air became unfit to breathe, and it's implied the human race is headed for extinction.]] It then zooms out to show the grandfather and girl in gas masks, with a spooky breathing noise here. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LH_MW0Bi7L4 Watch and be scared.]]
* Smokey himself didn't appear in this one either, but [[https://youtu.be/0oOUZ-YLH-o a 1969 PSA from that campaign]] aired well into TheSeventies. Narrator mentions that in the time it takes to grow a mature tree (in this case, a ponderosa pine) America has undergone 100 years of history. Camera slowly pans from the base of the tree to the crown, while [[ProgressiveEraMontage historical sound-bites play]]. Suddenly a careless match drops from the crown to the needles below; the narrator admonishes that now, in "a flash" that century will be wiped out so thoroughly [[GaiasLament "even the birds won't come anymore."]]

* A former member of Greenpeace did a commercial purporting to be home-video footage shot on a handheld camcorder of a family playing by the seaside. A plane then comes in to land above them and as they scream and panic, the camera shows that the plane is crashing into a nuclear power station next to the beach. There is then an end line asking, "Do we really want more nuclear power stations?" Watch it in all of its horror [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZreEBnqlZlk here]]. Greenpeace [[EveryoneHasStandards distanced itself from the video]] and the former member because (1) he is a hysterical sensationalist and (2) the "commercial" is blatant, ill-informed scaremongering. A passenger jet crashing into a nuclear power station will not cause a meltdown. Given the thickness that the dome on that power station has, a crashing jet would barely crack it--these things are made from concrete, lead, more concrete, and more lead. The woefully poor, chroma-keyed CGI plane [[NightmareRetardant also lessens the intended impact enormously]].