I'm especially annoyed with the new truth commercial where the girl is trying to get people to pet "Fang," then "Fluffy." The ad pisses me off because I love German Shepherds, and this commercial makes them look bad.

I think I saw the begining of that one but have consitioned myself to hit random buttons on the remote as soon as I realize it's one of their lame ads.

I really hate that truth add where they push a huge parade of beds out in front of the hospital, to demonstrate something about lots of people die or something. The hospital is not to blame for these deaths, quit hassling them!

I don't think there are as many PSAs as there used to be- did the FCC relax the requirements on the amount of time broadcasters must air them? The only time I seem to catch these ads is very, very early in the a.m. on BRAVO, where they run them practically back to back for lack of paid advertising. It's really disconcerting to see a PSA on say, ovarian cancer awareness, followed by a pitch for another type of health condition.

One of the best PSAs is the one about gun violence with all the "your mother..."s, followed by their mothers mourning them. It's not only moving, but incredibly clever at the same time. "But... is anyone really thinking about them?" Exactly.

A childhood memory about a PSA about registering for citizenship had me puzzled. I didn't know at the time that "alien" could mean a person from another country in this country. I was wondering, since I knew damn well there were no such thing as creatures from other planets visiting earth, yet here was a serious PSA about making sure aliens register with the naturalization service. I just couldn't reconcile it until I discovered what they meant.

I'm actually guilty of outright laughing at the one with the little boy singing Baa Baa Black Sheep, but the lyrics are changed to "have you any E? Yes sir, yes sir, first hit's free!"

Yes, I'm awful, but the kid is so dead serious about it, and he looks like a little boy I used to babysit, and I just start giggling like crazy. I actually also laugh at the one with the little girl singing "A B C D GHB...etc." I'll just.. go make reservations in hell.

I guess this is the place to express how much I hate that new anti-pot PSA with the smooshed girl standing by her bed. It's just this blob of a girl with overlong arms mumbling about how she screwed up her life. She looks like something out of Monsters Inc., only not cute. At first I couldn't tell what the hell I was watching- a PSA? a new ad for The Hills Have Eyes remake? a deleted scene from Supernatural? a Burger King ad?

It was not effective on any level, unless making me change the channel was the goal, and I don't think it was!

I have a seething, nun-blazing hatred for the whole line of commercials from the Partnership for a Drug-Free America. It started with 'Parents: the Anti-Drug' and went on to encompass friends, etc.

What I hate about them is the clear suggestion that if your child is on drugs then you have failed as a parent, it's your fault, you are bad, etc. But I know for a fact that some very good parents have ended up with a child who got involved with drugs. And, btw, Partnership, they probably already feel more guilty than you have room to imagine...

What pisses me off about the Parents: the Anti-Drug commercials is the concept of having a commercial that teaches parents how to be parents. Granted, kids don't come with a manual, but to have a commercial that basically says, "Hey! Be a fuckin' parent!!" is a really sad indicator of where we are as a nation.

I've never seen the first one, and I'm glad. That sounds fucked-up. The second one cracks me up, but also creeps me out. The worst, though, is the one on child abuse. "My dad and I were really close. We slept in the same bed." "I had the worst marks in my class, because my mom hit me."
Okay, first point - like that's not disturbing enough, they close-up on the face of a little freckle-faced girl who's the palest child I've ever seen, with huge eyes, and she just looks so haunted. I remind myself that these kids are actors, but this kid is too good for comfrt.
Second point - I know it's wrong to laugh at that, but it seems like such a non-sequiter (I know it's not, really, but I just find it hilarious for some reason. And the kid is acting so hard.)

Does anyone remember "I'm not chicken - you're a turkey!" and/or "You, okay? I learned it from watching you!" I still randomly shout those phrases at people.

I also hate the current one about peer pressure because it shows a kid taunting and then running from a slobbering, snarling pit bull. Like those dogs don't have enough media shit shovelled on them already. Pisses me off to no end.

I remeber "I learned it by watching you." I would watch that commercial and wonder why the kid didn't get in trouble for saying that to his dad.

Or an indicator of how incredibly stupid the ad makers are to have such a simple-minded approach to a complex problem. Not that I know anything about parenting...

My biggest beef with the anti-drug/smoking PSA's is simple.

Once, I'd love to see these organizations take on "Big Alcohol" in a vein other than "Don't drink & drive," which only applies to people who drive.

Okay, what about underage drinkers? Any college in this COUNTRY you will find underage drinking. Heck with college, High Schools, even middle schools you'll find reports about underage drinking. Binge drinking and playing over the top drinking games (Power Hour for example) are very serious issues, especially with underage drinkers.

I'd wager that alcohol kills more young people in this country than all the other drugs COMBINED! Without even going into the damage it can inflict on you as you get older, and the damage drinking causes to families.

But no, because alcohol is such a big advertizing generating business, especially in sports, you won't see anything done. Because beer is such a staple in Americana (and the World) its hard to "take them down" otherwise the network would probably lose major advertizers, and that is a shame.

Now I do enjoy alcoholic beverages, but they are dangerous, and deadly, and quite often can have very long ranging effects if abused. That's the "truth" right there, and as long as all the PSAs that go after Big Tobacco, pot and other "recreational" drugs lay off the alcohol industry, it is very hard to take any of them seriously.

The Truth.com commercials got me to start smoking out of spite. Now I can't stop but that's neither here nor there right now. Seriously though, I can't stand those elitist, annoying, uber-hip, holding-up-city blocks truth.com commercials.

Now onto our other vices.

My favorite anti-drug commercial from the past five years was the short lived "Nick and Norm" series featuring two guys discussing the benefits, and lack thereof, of drugs- dealing, doing, selling, etc. One of them ended with the brilliant lines.

Nick: Now how much of my money actually makes it to the bad guys' hands? A couple of bucks.
Norm: A few bucks.
Nick: A few bucks! That's it. Peanuts.
Norm: So what you're saying is that it's okay to support terrorism... a little.

I think these only aired once, during the 2002 Super Bowl where every commercial blamed potsmokers for 9/11. That's right, with two joints, I somehow killed a baby and a judge. Then they somehow faded into the ether.

But the war on drugs continue to this day, with their new campaign called "Above The Influence" which I personally find offensive. You've seen these, one of the worst things that can happen to drug users is that they can stick their first in their mouth and be unable to get it out. ...Yes, I know, terrible.

But even though I'm in my early 20s, I still am sickened by how they make it seem as though if you decide to do some pot, you are a completely mindless buffoon who has no sense of your own. You decide to relax with a bong, next thing you know you're trying to outrun a dog at a lumberyard because after all, you have no common sense.

It also makes the claim that the biggest pressures (pressure symbolized by a little girl being crushed into a cube) facing teenagers today is, of course, peer pressure and the pressure to do drugs because, after all, school, tests, parents, and college application forms are nothing but a cakewalk.

Almost all "____: anti-drug" commercials are sucky, but this new one particularly gets on my nerves... picture this:
Two girls, one on the couch and one on the seat next to it. Girl on couch looks like a folded up paper doll / melting pile of goo. Girl on seat whines about how they never have fun anymore because girl on couch started smoking pot.

Because we all know marijuana causes your body to contort and melt and render you immobile and mute.

Well it depends on how good the stuff you get is.

They had to have been shown more often than that because I saw them. They were revolting. There are valid points on both sides of the legalization argument (and some really invalid ones too), but this was so weighted early in the ad series that I was screaming at the screen. Then, when the final one came up, I couldn't stop laughing.

Also, WORD, SteveJRogers about drinking being the worst threat to teens. Even back in my high school days (when we had to duck behind rocks to avoid the saber-toothed tigers), alcohol was the most abused drug. I had to help roommates with miscarriages (due to drinking so much she gave in without a condom), roommates who were vomiting, and roommates who couldn't remember that they'd insulted or hit me the next day. These were 15 year olds.

I think liquor ads should be banned or limited to 10 pm or later. I don't care how cute Captain Morgan is.

Anytime an ad comes on that tells me to tell my kids something, I do.

Me: "Apparantly, I'm required by the FCC to tell you to not (drink/smoke/do drugs/fill in the blank), so ... don't. There, I've done my part."

Petit-Fangs: "Yes, mom, we know".

Me: "Well, they said I had to. I'm just doing my job."

The PSA that has scarred me for life is the "stop smoking" one with the baby monitor. I don't smoke. I don't plan on having kids and blowing smoke in their faces. Why the hell do I have to be tormented by 30 seconds of a baby alternately crying and coughing violently when I'm just trying to watch the news? This ad airs all the time here, and it's physically painful to listen to.

I think at least one of those must have aired more times over than that, because I remember seeing something of that sort, but I never watch the Super Bowl.
I hate all of the PSAs that blame drug users for everything that's wrong in America. They're so grossly condescending. Hate.

Although they must work, because I've never used a drug in my life, and my parents never talked to me about it. Heh.

My current "favorite" anti-drug psa's are the pair where the teen is going through his/her life and the parent is there reminding them about safety/manners, etc. I am guessing it's supposed to represent the teen's memory of previous parenting rather than the parent actually being there, but it's stuff like "Say thank you!" "Give your subway seat to the pregnant lady." Then the teen meets up with friends, who offer them a joint. Kid looks blankly back at friends and announcer intones "If you've never told her what to do....how will she know?"

The funny part of this is that it comes off not looking so much like the parents forgot to tell their kid not to use drugs, but that they neglected to teach them how to smoke a joint. (Bad parents!) Which cracks me up.

It also inflenced me to yell at the TV, "Don't hit it too hard, kid -- it'll make you cough!" Which cracked up my teenager. Because I am evil. Hee.

I have seen two; one seemed national, but the other seemed local or regional.

One was taking place in a basement or partyroom of a house. There was music and high school aged teens dancing and drinking. Then one guy's laying on the couch and a buddy's trying to wake him up, but can't. The buddy's voice gets more scared and it ends with ambulance sirens and the guy still trying to wake up his friend. Then the stern voice-over that tells us underage drinking isn't cool.

The other one had a group of teens partying out in a field/remote parking lot/away from adults. They're drinking from red plastic cups. Some of the kids (of course, mostly guys) say they want to go elsewhere. (Either just leaving or to get more booze, I can't remember.) What I can't remember exactly is if a really drunk guy is the one leaving or a small group. Someone yells after the truck not to go? Anyhow, there's a carwreck, and the driver's okay, but the girl passenger/friend trying to keep her friend from drinking and driving is severely injured/killed. There is much wailing and screaming, which fades to the voice-over about not to drink and drive. (This one seemed "homemade" with the handheld camera shots and such.)


Then there's the newer PSAs about knowing your limit. They show folks that are obviously drunk but then pan over to the sorta tipsy/toasty person who can still talk well and just maybe stumbles a half step or bumps into something. I think the tag is something like "When is one drink one drink too many?"



Yeah; somehow Americans found the Captain and Messrs. Beam and Daniels just fine without tv ads for forty or so years, yet tv gave in last year or 2004.

I can't stand the one by the American Lung Association with the asthmatic guy loudly wheezing and struggling to breathe. I'm pro-breathing, but that commercial is unendurable. I've noticed that recently they've come out with one that's not quite so obnoxious.

The commercials that get to me are the drunk driving ones where they show home movies of someone and then flash up on the screen the date they were killed by a drunken driver. I'm not convinced that they're all that effective, but they are moving.

There were some really funny anti-smoking ads airing last year in Canada. One featured a woman rolling in dog poop asking why people would want to smell like that. Pretty gross, but funny. It's online at stupid.ca (click on This is Stupid)

ACK! I can't stand that one! Also, we don't have a mute at my house, which means I either have to yell through the whole thing, leave the room, or desperately try to get whoever has the remote to change the channel. Most of the time they don't understand the problem, but they also don't see babies with smoker's coughs every day (work). Awful...

There used to be one I hated that had a kid playing with blocks and he'd rearrange the blocks to spell stuff, like "Don't smoke Mommy" or "Paul is Dead". Seething, fire o' nuns level hate.

Heh.



Right, because she'll never know how to handle any situation, if you haven't expressly made up her mind for her. Jeebus. That's the worst thing about those commercials, the overwhelming belief that kids have no actual thoughts of their own.

At the moment, I have a particular hate-on for cancer awareness commercials that air on a regular basis on the American cable stations we get. There's one that starts 'HEY! LISTEN UP!' with this horrendous 'funky beat' music in the background. It's offensive to the senses and it almost makes me want to punch my tv.

There's another, a woman who's actually whispering at the camera, talking about how her husband's all freaked out because "all [she] said was, 'honey, please pass the sugar and did you know prostate cancer affects blah blah blah...'". Okay, seriously? Lady, you are an idiot. He's got his head shoved into a hole in the backyard, not because he's in denial, but because you have absolutely no sense of subtlety whatsoever. Like, yeah, he's really going to want to talk about inspecting his parts over tea with his wife. Graaah!

Also, anti-smoking commercials, and people who get all hysterical about smoking? Make me want a cigarette so freaking bad.

So many PSA's, so much to snark on.
That said, I like the one about the party where the girl gets too wasted to say no and the guy's like, 'shh' as he unbuttons her blouse. That's the good shit, where you just can't throw up on him or something.
There was this one a minute ago that was so scarring. This woman holds up a picture of herself as she explains that she was a smoker and her husband always used to yell at her about smoking in bed, until she lit the house on fire because of falling asleep with a lit cigarette. Then she drops the picture and you see that she's horribly disfigured. I think the scarring came in because I didn't actually see it as a commercial but on a tv show and they freeze-framed on the woman's scarred, disfigured, bald head. Good times.

Oh my god, that horrible thing is still running? *shiver*
Does anyone remember "Nobody ever says, 'I wanna be a junkie when I grow up'?" Because those would freak the shit out of me as a kid. The guy sprawled on the bathroom floor, hysterical woman pounding on his chest. So disturbing.
I also hate the ones that imply that smoking pot makes guys rapists and girls victims. And the one that implies that if you're stupid enough to take out a firearm, load it, get stoned and accidentally shoot your buddy, that it wasn't Darwin at work.

Edited because one just aired that I hate:
The one that's all, "The tobacco industry always talks about all the things it does for children, but it never talks about the things they take away." They show two little girls, and their mother, who's laboring to breathe and hooked up to oxygen. "Cigarettes killed their mother." Yes, because the woman had no free will at all. She did not choose to smoke. Teh ebol corporation clearly forced them on her.

And one just aired that I actually really like: the creepy cheerful 50s-style ad with the happy guy declaring how "easy" domestic abuse is. It really gets to me, but I think it's actually well-done.

I'm not sure how many credible sources there are for this information, but I seem to recall reading somewhere that the reason there are so many anti-drug ads on a national level, yet relatively few anti-alcohol ads, is that one of the largest donors to the "Partnership For A Drug-Free America" is the alcohol industry itself. This would seem to make sense, because I tend to agree with the posters above that alcohol should get at least equal time if not more than is spent on informing us about the various dangers of drugs.

They're using the same mom and the younger daughter in another PSA, the one where the daughter says she can't say she wants to be like her mother because that means she'll start smoking at 10. I absolutely loathe that one.

I saw that. I feel incredibly sorry for that little girl. And I think it's sick that they're exploiting her like they are. Those kids better be getting fucking college funds out of this.

I guess this one would count as a PSA. There's a current commercial I've seen several times recently on the various Discovery channels about colon cancer screening. In it, a bunch of senior citizens are lined up in the clinic happily awaiting their colonoscopies. One guy, who reminds me of that old guy on Picket Fences, comes out from his colonoscopy and high fives everyone who is waiting in line.

False advertising! It cannot be that fun. Or is it?

Heeee. Your new, improved lyrics are awesome. See you in hell.


I still like to yell, 'I learned it by watching you!" but man, I'd forgotten all about the "turkey" line. That is a classic.

God, we must have been horrible children 'cause we'd all chime in with, "I wanna be a junkie." Good times.

One of my favorite PSAs was the one where the younger brother was talking about how the older brother used to play ball and be smart and he now he just sits in his parents' basement and smokes weed. During this he's going to "see" his brother because he has to give him his wallet.

My line of reasoning: "A place to live, television, weed and a wallet?! He's got it made!!"

I don't have terribly strong feelings about most of these PSAs -- I think I must not watch the channels or at the times when they usually air -- but one really annoys me: The one about a father fretting about how to tell his son not to smoke marijuana because he used to do it himself. And the announcer mutters that you're thinking words like "hypocrite" about yourself, and how can you tell your kid not to do what you did? And the answer? "Just don't worry about it -- get over it and tell him not to."

I don't deny that this is a genuine dilemma for parents who smoked pot (and probably enjoyed it, and look back on it with a certain fondness), and still would like their kids to stay out of trouble. But I don't think a complex situation can be resolved with a blithe "Don't worry about being logical, just forget all that and do what we say." It seems to be a PSA in favor of simple-mindedness.

I posted this in the Canadian Commercial thread, but I think my favourtite PSA ever is the "Hidden World of the House Hippo," that played in Canada by the Concerned Children's Advertisers. It is too cute. It had little mini hippos that were pets that would lounge around your house, sleep in your closet, etc. Plus I will always feel like a moron for actually wanting one of these. I remember watching it in university with my friends and we were all "those things really exist? We want one!" Then the PSA comes on telling us to not believe eveything you see on t.v. And we felt stupid. For a long time. But I guess that was kind of the point.

A U.K. spot of the House Hippo!

I used to work in a methadone clinic and one PSA that was talked about was the "anti-heroin" one with Rachel Leigh Cook (Josie and the Pussycats).

It was an update of the "this is your brain on drugs" PSA except Rachel was bashing everything in a kitchen with a frying pan while yelling "This is your brain on heroin!"

I thought it was horrible. Pretty young thing (in a tight shirt, no less) wantonly destroying things. Yeah, real effective.

Rachel Leigh Cook actually did a parody of that on Robot Chicken where she smashed a lot more than just the egg.

My sister and I would laugh hysterically at the girl who goes 'I wanna be a ballerina!' and proceeds to lose her shit and fall out at her audition. We would act it out because it was the funniest, slowest fall ever. I think we weren't too sure of what a junkie was, but that it would make you fall and beg for change. The one that bothered me was when the older druggie brother wakes his little brother up and robs him. As a big sister, I was freaked at anything that might make me beat up my sister for money, and not for pleasure as usual.
Eta:McKay, I've only seen that on a television program and never as an ad. It looked like it was years old when I saw it in the early '90's, so it's possible it aired and I was too young to remember.

jmarti03, that commercial was cute as the dickens, but I couldn't get my family to watch it! "C'mere, c'mere, there's cute little hippooooos!!" I was calling to them, but they kept saying, "No, you're going to show us that Ghost Car one." "No, really, this one isn't supposed to be scary, it's cuuuuute!" But the LiberryLord just said, "Kids, stay away from Mom's computer. She's showing commercials."

The power of Ghost Car.

I don't really remember that, but it sounds familiar. That's just really depressing.

You showed Ghost Car to your kids, LiberryLady? You are evil.

I hated hated the PSA with the girl drowning in the water while her friend stood right there. Granted, it was a lot better than most PSAs, and it freaked me out, which I guess was it's aim, but...it freaked me out! I would change the channel when it came on.

Does anyone remember this "Have You Hugged Your Kid Today" PSA? It was kind of like a pre-music video with all these household scenarios with the kids being kids and the parents are just totally stressed out. I was about 4 or 5 at the time but I remember being so freaked out by the parents being so mad. I still remember the song.

Can't you see that I'm on the phone?
Turn it down, I just got home.
Isn't it enough that I work all day?
At least you get a chance to get away!
Dishes, diapers, dirty rags!
Mortgages, bills and nag, nag, nag!
(Just then a child runs up) Daddy!
Shut up, kid, you're in the way!
I'm so mad I could slap your face!

Then, the little girl asks, Did I do something wrong? Then it launches into some folk music and everyone is happy again because they hugged. I just remember when it go to the face-slapping part, I would hide my face because the adults looked so mean and the little girl was crying.

This was back in the late 70's. Does anyone else remember this PSA?

Nooooo, no, no no. I warned my daughter then let her see it low-res, with the sound turned down, from across the room, but I didn't let my son see it at all. He hates jumpy-out things; if I would have let him see it, his big fourteen-year-old self would have been sleeping on my bedroom floor that night.

(Though I did kind of freak them out when I screamed. They didn't know I was watching the higher-res version, then all of a sudden: "Aaaaiiiiii!!!")

Heh. I think we did that too. It really was the slowest fall in the history of Ever.

I remember one PSA about domestic violence where the little kid is creeping out bed at night and is watching his parents have a screaming fight and his mom is clearly getting knocked around. I had to leave the room when that came on.

Eh, you young whippersnappers with your hippos and your druggies. In my day, we just had an Indian with a tear rolling down his face.

(In the snow. Uphill. Both ways.)

Has anyone seen ads warning against online predators? They run them obsessively here in Arizona on the AZ News channel, usually multiple ads right in a row, and I just get more and more creeped out by the guy sitting at his computer pretending to be a teenage boy chatting with some girl about how he just got his drivers license, etc., with the little AIM noises and the sound of typing on the keyboard as the only sounds. And there's a voice-over that sounds like Jamie Lee Curtis? I mentioned it to friends back East, but they haven't seen it, so perhaps it's a regional thing? Creepy...

I can't stand it either!

Those "truth" commercials about smoking...are they actually real? Do they actually go and do these things and just tape it? Or are they actors? I've always wondered this.