The PSA TV Thread - Teaching Children with Bewilderment and Terror

[Johnny Unusual]

One of my all time favourite PSAs.

Look, I never believed it was real, but for the commercial to broach such a great idea God missed out on this makes me curse his works.

 

[RT-55J]

I thought that was going to be an environmental PSA. Genuinely wasn't expecting that turn at the end.

 

[karzac]

The funny thing about the house hippo ad is it just made every Canadian 90s kid desperately wish house hippos were real.

Apparently Concerned Children's Advertisers have their own Youtube channel. Here are some other favourites:

"Somebody get this cat-off-my-head"

"We are girls, we will do what's right for us."

"My thing is dinosaurs"

I guess the message of this one was stay fit, or else girls might kiss you? Bit of an odd message

And of course, the all-time classic, "Don't You Put It In Your Mouth". Hard to say whether this one or House Hippo is the more recognizable, but say the phrase "Like a muffin or a beet!" to any Canadian over 30 and they'll instantly know what you're talking about.

I genuinely think Concerned Children's Advertisers are one of the most successful Canadian media creators of ever.

 

[Octopus Prime]

It has been over thirty years and I still have no dag-blamed idea what the heck the Stay Alert Stay Sage ad was for.

There were consequent ads that were much more clear, but the original is just completely bewildreing

 

[Johnny Unusual]

All time favourite PSA.

 

[Octopus Prime]

it teaches children that the reason the night sky is dark is for it is full of terrors

 

[Johnny Unusual]

It has been over thirty years and I still have no dag-blamed idea what the heck the Stay Alert Stay Sage ad was for.

"Remember to ask your parents about optical illusions and wacky snakes."

 

[Octopus Prime]

"Rabbits possess goblets full of lightning; fear the world, for chaos reigns!"

 

[Johnny Unusual]

One of my surprise questionnaires

1) Which PSA is your favourite?
2) Is there one that you completely forgot about and then your remembered in a powerful wave of nostalgia?
3) What is your favourite PSA parody?
4) What is something they seriously should make a PSA about but don't?
5) What is the most confounding PSA you can remember?
6) What weird PSA did you NOT grow up with but wish you did?

 

[Octopus Prime]

1. Always really impressed by the visual imagery of the original ASTAR commercial, the CG remake, not so much
2. Every time Louie the Lightning Bug is mentioned, my heart smiles
3.

4. After 2020, there are so many possible candidates... but let's say... not leaving a dog in a hot car.
5. As noted earlier, the Stay Alert: Stay Safe PSA that taught children to be mindful of rabbits who are fond of optical illusions
6. I've seen an old British PSA where the specter of death mocked children for being so easy to kill. Those would have terrified me as a child, but were definitely memorable.

 

[Octopus Prime]

Rewatching them, some of those fake GI Joe PSA have not aged super gracefully

 

[muteKi]

I genuinely think Concerned Children's Advertisers are one of the most successful Canadian media creators of ever.

There's also the heritage moments series and the 'he's not heavy, he's my brother' ad, which I guess just shows that Canadian PSAs are on another level compared to the US at least

 

[Johnny Unusual]

1) Which PSA is your favourite? Astar
2) Is there one that you completely forgot about and then your remembered in a powerful wave of nostalgia? Someone mentioned "He's not heavy" but I wouldn't call it a powerful wave. I think I indulge a lot of the ones in my childhood from my head too often.
3) What is your favourite PSA parody? Well, I liked the piracy one from the IT Crowd but the creators shittiness kind of ruined it. So probably a Simpsons one.
4) What is something they seriously should make a PSA about but don't? They must but I feel like I don't see any PSAs around being cool about pronouns.
5) What is the most confounding PSA you can remember? Octo makes a good case for Bert and Gert. I also saw one recently from the aughts where a child is left alone at an airport and starts crying after a minute and asked "imagine what would happen if you didn't come back" and was about... drinking and driving maybe? But also, I think that kid was for real crying, so that feels like a pretty shady PSA shoot.
6) What weird PSA did you NOT grow up with but wish you did?

I could have learned not to drink the goblin juice.